Exactly what it says on the tin!!!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?ref=profile&id=717306617

you will have to copy and paste the above link and "friend" me to view! Pictures from: India, China, Nepal, Indoniesia and Malaysia!

enjoy folks!! x

My wedding photos!!!!

My gown was a full, medieval, dark blue, heavy velvet "Vampirerss" gown by DARK ANGEL!!





























..........and finally we set off for our honeymoon tour of west Africa!!!!!!!!!

As Santa makes ready his sleigh and all is quietening down in the Harrison houshold!
Everything is done!!
This morning was a very early one, and we were up for 4:30am to make ready for our big food shop at 7am! It was cold first thing and I coulden't wake myself up, but two cups of coffee and toast and I was human again! I finished off my arm's length shopping list with some added extras from Derek in case I had forgotton anything, and so armed with list, several re-useable supermarket shopping bags and a healthy does of "surely it can't be busy this time in the morning?" we took off in the car a little after half 6am. Lo and behold it was busy though! I should have expected it realy...what I dident expect was the tannoy announcement....."Due to lisencing laws, we are unable to serve alcohol untill 8am!" What rubbish I thought. The shop could have applied for an early liscence, or told us on the board which advertised the early 7am opening! No, it was just a crafty sales tac tic to get you to spend more money as in: "Oh well we will just have to hang around for 50 minuites while filling our trolly's with unnessary and useless or wastefull items!" Well, Derek and I had a quick conference and he said he would come back later for the booze. To which I debated to hang about and wait for 8am, so we sould not have to make a return journey. I won! So we just hung about glowering at the checkout staff...hehehe We diden't get much booze anyway, just port for me, beer for Derek and Cherry B for mum, as well as wine and Schloer white grape, pop, juice and cordial.



On coming back I began to make the house clean and tidy and make some preparations for tomorrows lunch. I tend to make nearly all my Christmas dinner preparations the night before as I hate messing about peeling veg on Christmas morning. I like to plan everyhting carefully so that everything runs smoothly and we have a tasty lunch. This year though we have a change...in stead of Christmas pudding we are having homemade Gooseberry pie!! Mum is baking it as we speak, and I must say my mums pastry just melts in your mouth!! Much nicer than having a gritty, Christmas pud! I am not too keen on fruit cake anyway! Away from the food subject at the moment, Derek has me totally baffled with Christmas presents this year and I not sure what its all about? At the moment there are enough presents under the tree you would belive a family of 7 lives with us!!!! So yesterday me and mum decided to go back to town and buy Derek somthing extra...When I asked him about the mountain of gifts, he simply said he felt like it and some were only very small anyway! Not from where I am looking!!! Yesterday I inadvertently (honest!) picked up one small one adressed to me as it looked to be in the shape of a pork pie!! What the heck is he doing wrapping pork pies for Christmas?? But its not as it was solid, and before I could read the lable, he snatched it out of my hand and put it back under the tree!! I say I wanted to read the lable properly as Derek always writes a small, cryptic clue on iit, as to what the present is, and I have to guess before opening it!!! It sounds dull but its realy rather fun!!....Anyway, for the time being we are just putting our feet up and resting on our laurels knowing that everything is done! Currently Derek is watching "Banquet" one of his favorite Chinese films, which he loves. He has a large collection of Chinese cinema films! Personally I think its the pretty ladies that he loves!! LOL!!...as for me, well I am just about to have an early bath (as Sirius is getting his bath later) and smother myslef in jasmine bubbles! Then and only then will I truley relax!
Have a wonderful Christmas where ever you are!! and lots of love and Christmas wishes from Vicky, Derek and Sirius! x x x x x



p.s
I am going offline now untill the 3rd of Jan 10 so have a brilliant new year too!! ((((((((hugz))))))) x

Sorry, but this is a moaning one folks......
TV adverts are totally p***ing me off at the moment, simply because of the time of the year...and yes..I know some of my facebook friends will be compleatly horrified by the fact I have joined a group called "I hate charity adverts!" but I have quite simply ad enough of 'em (if you pardon the pun!!)

I would never consider myself heartless, although it may seem heartless to say I hate charity ads, but I actively support animal charities including PETA and IFAW, and indeed always donate to local causes at my Masonic Lodge, and indeed all Masonic activity is based in charity as its part of the Masonic code to "help those in need" and incase anyone missed it I AM A FREEMASON!...and even my dog, Sirius with whom I could not live without, came from the "Dog's Trust" charity!!! But I am heartily fed up with adverts depicting truley shocking images of sick and abused children, abused animals, and homeless people at the moment, simply being bombarded with them because its Christmas!!! My point is:
Should we only care about these poor creatures at Christmastime?????
Surely poor children, animals, and indeed adults need our care and charity all year round! Or at least thats how it should be!!
.........and its not just the charity ad's that are getting to me but its the "ordinary" ones too! Like constant perfect hero/heroine, designer perfume/aftershave ads...and then when you have stuffed your face silly on Christmas day, you have the "Gaviscon: what a feeling" adverts reminding you just how bad your indegstions is, but all the shops are shut anyway so you can't buy the stuff, unless you have previously stocked some in. I heartily wish "Go Compare" would go F**K OFF!!!! And even Coronation Street sponsered by "Harveys" is making me jittery too. I even bought all my dining room furnature at Harveys back in 2000, which included a full mohogany dinding suite and Jali (Indian) sideboard, 4 foot mirror and massive candlesticks, with absolutly no change from a £Grand!! Another bug-bare is the "had a personal injury" ads!!! Chap drilling and falling off his ladder. Lady walking through reception, slipping and damaging her knee, and the Irish lady who trips on plastic strapping!! Arggghhhhhhhh!! where does it end??

My top 20 annoying adverts!!! (sorry but I like making lists!!)

1: Go compare!!!....never before have I wanted to smash an opera singer in the chops!!

2: DFS!! when will that bleedin' sale end?

3: Foxy Bingo (or any Bingo advert)

4: Asda is cheaper on pricechecker

5: Save the children! (sorry folks but this actually makes me cry and anymore of it and I may commit suicide!)

6: Boots "here comes the girls" .......Im singing this in my sleep!!

7: Cash4Gold!!! .........nuff said

8: personal injury claims!

9: Perfect hero/ heroin perfum adverts...the guy one look very camp to me...??

10: Red driving school

11: Direct car insurance!

12: Scared- stops smoking with NHS using kids begging their parent to stop smoking or they will die...not since 1945 has there been such propaganda!!

13: Who is that whining singer who sounds drunk singing Gun'S and Roses on the M&S ADVERT??

14: iPhone

15: XBox 360!!! Arrrggghhhhhh!!!

16: I want to do a poo at Pauls (sounds a wee bit creepy/pervie.)

17: Iceland..........even more annoyng without Kerry!

18: Gaviscon..........cartoon firemen with large hoses *coughs*

19: Weird Guiness ad's.......whats the point??

20: Grouse Whisky....that dripping noise is soooooo annoying!!

.........maybe more to come later!

Awwwwwww!!!

Sirius has just dumped his soggy wet, snow covered bead in my lap following his evening walk with Derek!! Oh my goodness he looks sooo cute covered in snow (Sirius not Derek! LOL) ...I was going to get Sirius a doggie coat but Derek objected because of his breed which is a bearded collie/Briard mix, but I think he is more Briard becuase of his size (big). Briards come from France and are herding dogs, but like beardies they have a double layered thick coat specialy designed to keep them warm herding cattle in cold conditions! Derek recons a doggie coat would make him too hot!!! However, Sirius adores the snow and when he first saw it last week, he rolled around in it and ended up absolutly covered in snow!! His paws were a mass of snowballs!!

This is Sirius after his walk...aka "Pud, Pud!"



a little fuzzy but he was having a jolly good shake!!...and this is a snowcovered Derek!



The snow is coming down in bucketfulls here at the moment and its set to continue, but it does make it feel so Christmassy!!! Well everything is done....cards sent, presents wrapped, decorations and tree up, the only thing that is left to do is sorting the Christmas dinner! for which preparations wont start untill Christmas eve. But its so cosey snugged up in front ot the TV, all warm and fuzzy feeling while its blowing a veritable blizzard outside! I realy apprieciate my hot nightly bubble baths when its like this...But I wouldent be caught stuggling to the pub in that blizzard for all the tea in China! Absolutly nothing beats a lovely, homely Christmas! Even if this home is just for the next month or so...
I am realy looking forward to an early night, cuddled warm beneth my super tog duvet with a warming bowl of stew for supper, some Port and feeding Sirius, my "Pud, pud" his nightly special treats! :)

Neil Diamonds first and IMHO his finest hit "Crackling Rosie" is actually written about a bottol of WINE!!!!!!!!!!



I loved to sing along to this as a child, but I always thought he was singing about a lady who was perhaps "ordinary" as in the lyric "store-bought woman".......as I grew older I then became convinced he was singing about a blow up doll!! But the truth is he was singing about a cheep bottle of "Ros'e" wine!!

Was and always will be one of my favorie songs of all time!

Perhaps my version would be called "Crackling Croft Triple Crown port!"

LOL!!!!!!!!

In contrast to yeaterday's miserable, moaning post!!
100 THINGS I LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

1: Derek, my mum and my dog, Sirius!

2: my friends!

3: Animals (all mostly!)

4: Music (anything from the Sex Pistols to Handel)

5: Dr Who classic series

6: Jon Pertwee, God bless him!

7: Marc Bolan, God bless him too!

8: walking and hiking!

9: world travel of any kind

10: Troika pottery

11: Tudor History

12: realy decent sci-fi horror fiction or film

13: anything colourful, I adore bright colours and hate wishy washy pastals!

14: Calem white Port or a good vintage red

15: my nightly bubble-baths!!

16: ELO! I will always love this brilliant band!

17: India!!

18 Bali........my favorite island in the world!

19: the change of the seasons!

20: smelling morning due on the grass after a night in the tent!

21: traveling overland!

22: tea candles

23: Beautiful smells like jasmine and orange blossom

24: writing

25: playing Mah Jhong with Derek as he is a sore looser!!

26: Good debate!

27: cute sniffer dogs at customs!!

28: cuddling up warm and cosey on cold winter nights!

29: Prada perfume!!!!!!!!

30: Gary Oldman the actor!

31: Firetrap shoes!

32: watching Derek put up the Christmas decorations! (he is 6 foot 1 inch hehehe)

33: sharing a good meal!

34: Freemasonry!

35: Astronomy......I have a 14 inch reflector telescope!

36: singing!

37: amature dramatics!

38: Coronation street!

39: The Telegraph!

40: fresh warm sheets on the bed!!

41: Richard Hammond (for obvious reasons *coughs*)

42: thunderstorms!!

42: packing for a trip away!

43: reading the Tarot!

44: my portabel DVD player!

45: smartly dressed people!

46: pole dancing (yes I still do this!)

47: the writer, Phillipa Gregory!

48: my black Prada boots!

49: blue skies!

50: 747-400 aircraft!

51: dandelion and burdock! my favorite soft drink!

52: Welsh leek pie! (my grandmothers recipie! she was from Cardiff as was my dad)

53: hand written letters from friends!

54: learning new and unusual things!

55: reading National Geographic mag!

56: a lovely cup of tea!

57: spending time on my appearence and make up!

58: Clinique make up and skin care! (I use nothing else!)

59: knitting!

60: craft shops!

61: fake fur throw on my bed!

62: Bailiey's Irish cream cheesecake!!!!!!!!

63: swimming! (preferabally somwhere tropical)

64: applying Prada body cream after a hot bath!

65: my snuggly, soft dressing gown!

66: paper-weights!

67: Lindt chocolate!

68: my swimming pool! (though obviously not at this time of year, even though it is heated!)

69: cute guys in glasses!!

70: having a manicure!

71: Bergamott oil

72: white tartan!

73: my 1973 Gabrialle designes Paddington bear!

74: Balinese Gamelan orchestra!!

75: making my own travel documentaries!

76: playing Darts

77: Snooker both playing and watching!

78: memories of my Dad!

79: long warm summer evenings in the garden!

80: feeding the birds at Billing Mill

81: bathing Sirius!

82: following breaking news on Twitter

83: Playing Tetris!

84: chatting to Mum on the phone of an evening!

85: Sunday lunches!

86: cooking!

87: warming supper in winter!

88: New Dr Who (yes fairly low down on my list!)

89: Father Ted!

90: Carry on films!

91: Moby!

92: lava lamps!

93: Hats!

94: drinking mango lassie!

95: Mushroom lasagne!

96: loving the supernatural!

97: smoking!! (yes I go actually enjoy smoking!)

98: appriecaiting the finer things in life!

99: planning and organising!

100: making pointless lists!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

This top 100 things I hate milarkey seems to be quite trendy at the moment!!

So I am slightly out of my usual "not trendy self here!! LOL!!...........BUT HERE IS MY TOP 100 HATES!!! grrrr


1: Chav's or anything connected with chav culture!

2: rude, arrogant, ignorant, stupid people!

3: Smelly people

4: teenagers who wear jeans/ skirts round their ankles!

5: Strickly come dancing (should have been number one realy)

6: Simon Cowell smug t**t

7: Teenage mums with massive prams

8: huge prams in shops!

9: The nations obsession this z list celebrities!

10: Katie Price (Jordan)

11: Foreign call centres

12: Door-to-door salesman

13: X factor

14: Bullying (all forms of)

15: People who talk loudly on their mobile phones

16: snotty chav kids

17: People that park in disabled bays when they're not disabled!!

18: Sweating

19: Political people who project a "falsly, Im perfect" persona to gain more votes!

20: MP's expenses

21: Automated phone systems!

22: fascist ANTI smokers!!

23: PDA (public displays of affection) Get a room please.....or go to bed!!!

24: People shopping with their children who have assumed that having children give them special priveledges, like no manners and right of way.

25: People whose voice rises in pitch at the end of every sentence? Making everything they say sound like a question?

26: Grodon Brown! (this should have been nearer to the top too)

27: Kids who play rap music on ipods loudly on the bus!

28: Political correctness

29: Christmas starting in August!

30: men over 35 wearing shorts!! Ewwwuuuuee!!

31: Stupid people, especially the ones who are so stupid, they don't even know they're stupid

32: Fat women dressing like they are a size 8 and letting it all hang out - yuk

33: Football and anything to do with football!

34: Badly done C.G.I.

35: Saturday night telly.........I have an EXTRA long bath on Saturday evenings!

35: Botox! ...just looks plasicky!

36: men who wear wigs!! ....baldness can be hansome!...wearing a toupee is soooooooo obvious!! LOL!

37: Massive ego's!

38: cold weather!

39: Obvious designer lables!

40: Lady Ga ga (who is she anyway?)

41: loosing my keys!

42: feeling ill!!

43: Hermes handbags!! (how can a handbag take 2 years to make and cost £10,000?)

44: False eyelashes (try applying mascara correctly!)

45: Turkey neck!

46: Led Zeppelin!!! (Both Derek and the first Mr Vix drive me bonkers with this!!)

47: Big Top (the new BBC series that is supposed to be funny!)

48: Old people dressing like teenagers.........teenager dress badly anyway!

49: Bruce Foresyth....he should be put out to pasture!

50: smell of stale or cheap perfume!

51: running out of bubble bath!

52: last glass of port of an evening!!! Booo hooo!!

53: dirty fingernails

54: poor food hygiene

55: That bleeding DFS advert!!!!!!!!

56: Anchovies!! *gags*

57: anything "tacky"

58: the smoking ban

59: nosey neighbours!

60: fireworks!

61: the Tudors ending at season 4!!!!

62: slippery old leaves on the pavement

63: Techno speak!

64: news reporters wearing "Berghaus" jackets...

65: Barbeques...they smell and are a health hazard!

66: pineapple on pizza!! yerk!!!!!!!!!!

67: chewing gum...looks common and is messy!

68: tee-totalers!!! .get a life!!!!!!!!!!

69: things that shrink in the wash!

70: remote running out of power!

71: forgetting to re-charge my phone!

72: annoying spam!

73: trashy novels and art!

74: snobbishness!

75: soggy socks

76: car alarms that go off for no reason!

77: Blakes 7

78: scruffy men!

79: slow internet connection!

80: Big brother

81: reality tv in genral

82: Singers who mime!

83: talentless folks on tv

84: Cashiers giving you your change on top of a receipt

85: iPhone obsessives

86: Burning my toast!

87: Boy bands!

88: tabloid headlines (usually)

89: Pervo's and weirdo's

90: sky-scraper heels that should be reserved for pole-dancing!

91: 80's fashion come backs!

92: too much wrapping/packaging on things!

93: pricey organic food!

94: fake designer bags!

95: blingy fake jewellery!

96: mini skirts!! (unless you have a size 8 figure an are 20-ish)

97: Muffin top (flab hanging over jeans looks discusting)

98: camel toe (say no more)

99: too much information!!!!!!!!!

100: MOANING!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!

What a crankey, miserable moaning old cow I am!! Think I need to have a glass of port!!!! ;)

Presently I am watching the Paul O'gradey Christmas pantomine, and for a moment I though I saw my dear old (and deceased in 1995) Nanna Ball playing a fairy godmother on TV!!!!!!!!
Let me explain........

For years now my potty old Mum has sworne that comiedian Johnny Vegas (real name Michael Joseph Pennington) is a close relative!!!!

Any family resemblance here??




The reason she thinks this, is the surname "Pennington" was my maternal grandmothers, maiden name!!! My nanna Ball. Born in Merseyside at the turn of the century, was married twice, and by all accounts had a sting of lovers during the war, and had 3 daughters of which my mother is the eldest, Joyce Greenall born in 1933...my auntie Anne Greenall in 1936 and my Auntie June Ball in 1942. My Nanna's maiden name was, however, Adaline (Ada) Pennington!...and like Johnny Vegas, hails from the St Helens area of Merseyside...All too sadly though its difficult to trace as the Pennington name is very common in St Helens and even has Heraldic or royal connections!
Now on Paul O'gradey Johnny is playing a flamboyant pantomime dame, and he is the "sptiiting image" of my old nanna Ball, echoing her mannerisms too!!! I nearly fell of my chair!!!!!!!!!!
I guess that will be a huge topic of conversation with my mum on our usual, nightly 9pm phone call!!! is Johnny Vegas my cousin???????
My nanna Ball was one of 15 children....does anyone know where I can trace this info, that is not ancestry.com??

Derek and Sirius think I am potty........have they only just noticed?? LOL!!!!!!!!

Just finished decorating our tempoary home ready for Christmas, and its looking delightfully homely and festive at the moment!! Which is pleasing on these dark dull evenings!
Derek and I went over to our "proper home" today to pick up the Christmas tree and other deccies from our loft, but we had to buy some new step-ladders as our old ones have oddly gone missing during the re-fit, which was a bit of a pain. The house is dreadfully cold and un-lived in, but the proper work does not begin untill next week...we have decided on our new, designer, fitted bedroom from top company, Hammonds. We had a 3 hour design meeting with our personal designer last week and have come up with some lovely designes which even includes glass display shelving for my Troika pottery, and Brenda Price dolls, and 21 Swartzki solid crystal handles!! the suite its self is in brilliant white solid wood with built in bed and bedside cabinates, and even inculdes a 40 inch flat screen wall mounted TV!!! Crikey I will never get out of bed!!!!!! All the decorating will be a pale sky blue with white ceiling and stylish ceiling fan. Hammonds only do the bedroom, however so we have decided to get our own people in for the two bathrooms, one of which (upstairs) will have a jucczi style corner bath with 21 jets in pure white!! I shall never get out of the bath either!!! and Greecian style tyles and wall fittings! Also we are having the bathroom extended slightly!! Derek has suggested we decorate ourselves down stairs, but I have not had a paintbrush in my hands for 20 years!! so goodness knows what that will look like!! But I am not sure what to do about my fish as I dont want them to suffer from paint fumes!! Anyway we dont expect to be back in our proper home untill mid January.
Ok...so now for our tempary home! Well I have strings of blue crystal ball lights in the window, with Dereks fiber-optic "Christmas village" on the sill. I have 4 foot fairy-lighted twigs in a £300 Toika pot next to the TV, my red "stockings!" which are very styalised, black fibre optic tree, some vintage decorations, and our old small nativity scene on the coffee table, lit by tea lights....and I have even wrapped mum's present (first of many!!!) Goodness knows what I am going to get Derek, he seems to have everything, and never gives me any hint of what he would like making it doubley hard!! He enjoys games and puzzels, so useually they form part of his present. Fortunatly after 16 years together, he knows my tastes well!!! so I may recieve anything from Dr Who to anything to do with Tudor history....maybe some delicate and classy night things!! (if I hint hard enough) LOL!!!!

............OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have just turned around to see Derek watching weakest link.......and he is wearing felt Reindeer antlers with bells on, ON HIS HEAD!!!!!!! I bought them for Sirius!!! (piccies coming soon)

Good grief....and I think I am bonkers!! LOL!!

X

And its about time too!!!
My old friend Ian Peake of "Peakes Holidays" (37) has finally tied the knot with his beautiful bride, Pauline!!



Good luck, and my hearty congratulations to you both!! ((((((((hugs))))))))

*raises glass*

*toasts*

Hope there are many, many happy years ahead, together!

Much love,
Vix x

WOW!!!

Superb collection of Dr Who T shirts here, for all you fan friends this Christmas!!!

Please copy and paste: http://www.zazzle.com/dr+who+tshirts

I just may have to order "The Hoodie of Rassilon"!!!

*grins*

Certainly NOT doing any Christmas shopping today!

Today is probabally going to be the biggest Christmas shopping day of the year, or so they said on the news this morning, so I am avoiding town like the plauge today (will be doing most of it in London midweek anyway!) Northampton can be a total nightmare when its busy as I have blogged before....you have to be on your guard for huge prams (baby buggies) shoving you at supersonic speed!!! Scowling chavvie teenage mums with billions of skwarking chavletts ( if you dont get out of the way fast enough!!!!) The elderly on scooters zipping around like Michael Schumacher!!! (I have nearly been knocked flying by a lot of these) The self important, barging about like there is no-one else in the world and people walking straight into you for absolutly no reason at all....Morrisons, yesterday gave me a taste of all this, as it was absolutly packed when I went shopping. In fact at one point I was stood for agers waiting to get past a couple of elderly women blocking my way!! I firmly belive you should have to pass a test to push a supermarket trolly!!! Its a sad fact that at this time of year people seem to go onto automatic "I am the only person in the world" mode and any form of politness and "excuse me's" appear to fly out of the window!!!
So much for the season of good will!!
Anyway, Mum is coming for a quiet lunch, and Derek is busy taking his computer apart piece by peice as its stopped working yet again...should be a peacfull day!!
But at least I wont be in town getting injured by an insane number of chav prams!!

Phew!!!

x

In these early, dark evenings I find it nice to play daft games and connect with old pals on Facebook! Only last week I had a jolly good chin wag with an old friend from the now defunct, Outpost Gallifrey (which is now called somthing else) and play Happy Aquarium, of which I am on level 19 currently and do silly "top 5" lists....things when I was younger, fav bands, movies ect...all good clean fun!! Last week was very sad though as a friend messaged me on MySpace only to tell me of the sad tale of a break-up with his girl friend! Apparently she had buggered off to live with some chap in Birmingham and yet, my friend, Andrew still wanted to give her a chance! Good grief!! I told him not too and get out and meet some new friends!! He is 38 and lives near Hereford, and has a hobby of bell ringing, to which I said is there no available laddy bell ringers? We shall see...he is a nice chap and is also a radio broadcaster and pianist, though I felt awfully sorry for him for his loss...
Twitter is fun too, though I do more reading on there that twittering (only 20 tweets so far) Stephen Fry does the best Tweets on there!!! He is such a funny, well read, intelligent chap and I love reading his stuff! I advise any of my friends if they are on Twitter to follow Stephen as he is as entertaining as he is on TV!! There are some very good Doctor Who Tweets too, and lots of them!! Alos I can catch up with news from the world of travel as I get news from various airlines. But the best of all is the breaking news channels where you can get news instantly, even before its reached TV or other interesting news from around the world that might not make it to the UK!!
In other news we are off to Oxford street Chistmas shopping soon, and we are deciding how to decorate the house as we are living in a smaller detached property at the moment while our proper home is refurbished! We have a 6 foot black fibre optic tree but I can't see where we are going to put it in the living room....still, we should sort somthing out. And I also have my first Christmas Lodge (Masonic) very soon which I am greatly looking forward too!!
see you soon!! x