Had propababally the worst January EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SORRY.........TO SOUND SO DEPRESSIVE!!!

Firstly, boxing day I started to the worst bout of Gastric Flu EVER!! (so much so for my cooking *sulks*) and spent the most of the new year with my head down the loo being sick. Mum came to look after me and tucked me up on the couch with my trusty bucket nearby and I went through both seasons of the "Tudors" to take me mind of it! The first thing I managed to eat in two weeks was Mums steak stew and dumplins! Fortunatly I feel fine now, but lets just say I dident have much fun seeing in the new year as I couldent even drink my port!...secondly I was conned BADLY on ebay by, buying a Troika mask that I paid £900 for and turned out to be fake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I even emailed the artist, Simone Kilburn, to confirm it was fake, which she did, and now, surprize, surprize, the seller, Zigmatrade, has vanished and wont ansewer any emails, which I have sent dozens. Now for this kind of thing I am supposed to be covered by paypal as I paid with my credit card, and I have filed a dispute and have heard nothing from them either. I am going to phone them later and see what is happeneing....but on the upside this fakery has happened to dozens of collectors of Troika as the complaints are everywhere on ebay...Apparently the police are now aware of this fraud, and several buyers have banged off nasty emails to ebay but again, have heard nothing. Th rouge seller has at least 4 different ebay accounts but is mainly known as "Mr Phluffy" and it appears he bought a consignment of unpainted, buscuit, unfinished Troika when the went bust in 1983 and decided it would be great fun to paint it himself and sell it as "genuine" Troika!!...so now I am stuck with a rather ugly mask vase, if genuine would be worth somthing in the region of £3,000, and its actually worth nothing!!!.....
Oh..........and then I lost my credit card............
Anyway had a lovely day out with Mum and Derek to Aldebrough yesterday, so that cheered me up a bit, but it was freezing cold!!!

Hope everyone had a better new year than me!!
.........this January I would rather forget, and just hope the rest of the year gets better!

love Vix x

FLUE!!!!!!!!!!!

To be honest its been coming for a few days now, with coughing sneezing and an itching at the back of my nose...but yesterday I saterted being violently sick, felt all hot and cold all over and was sweating like I had been locked in a sauna!! Every single muscle aches in my body, so I guess this is my punishment for going out into the sales and taking bus rides with loads of people coughing and sneezing!...Anyway I ph oned NHS Direct ( and dispite what folks say about them they are brilliant) and give thm my details and then they phone you back in 15 mins for a chat with a specilist nurse! I told her my symptoms and because of the aching muscles and the vomiting she said it was flue and I should check with my Doctor...No a chance!!! I 'aint siting about my Doctors surgery collecting even more germs from strangers, but I have had flue before so I am self medicating with Asprin, gallons of fluid, and Barocca for my lost vitimins, but how to stop being sick I have just no idea!
You see, flue is a virius so it constantly changes, hence ther is no known cure! The only helpfull thing is t drink tons of water, juice, cordial, tea,....back soo, but I realy do feel terrible..........

...and hears hoping that you all had a wonderful Christmas, be it quiet or party-filled!!
My Christmas was a quiet one with just one party at a neghbours house, but we dident stay long! My "Nigella" seasoned Turkey though was perfection!!! even if I do say so myself!! *blushes*...and Mum shocked the life out of me when she gave me a huge Clinique gift set that must have cost a fortune!!! She knows I only ever use Clinique and although it costs a bomb, it last ages and keeps my "monthly" spots at bay. Derek got me some "hot socks" which you actually microwave and they keep your feet warm for ages, and also a 3 disc set of Loreena McKennit which I adore, but my main present from him hasent even arrived yet!!! (Christmas and new year post I suppose) which is a Troika mask vase!!!...I have had fun in the sales too, which this year has been excellent for a change! Although my credit cards are quivvering with fright! LOL!!! Among the things I bought were a half price Sanctury Spa set from boots, half price Vivien Westwood perfume, 2 pairs of half price "Ecco" boots, a pair of diamond stud earings, and a crystal pendant to hang by my bed!...Its mums birthday in two weeks too so I have bought her some Bronnley body loation (she likes Bronnley because the Queen wears it!!! I am sure Mum is turning into Mrs Bucket!!...sorry, Bouquet!) and a Royal jelly gift, pamper set, which I know she loves, and I plan to take her for a birthday lunch at House of Fraiser!
In other news we had to take Sirius to the vets yesterday becuase he has an ear infection! I noticed it about a week ago as when I tickled him behind his ears he would yelp in pain, and everytime I cleaned his ears the smell was dreadful so I figured he had picked up some kind of infection! Anyway the vet examined him and gave us some drops for him which we have to use twice a day, and if it hasent cleared up in a week we should take another trip back to the vet to see whats realy wrong! I hate my poor baby being in pain!

Ok...new years resalutions.....??? LOL!!!
I have made 5, all privatly to myself...as usually if I mention my resalutions I normaly break them within a week so I now think its bad luck to talk about them........One of them though is to spent much less time on the internet, and to throw myself head long into antiques dealing! I will still post lots on my blog though and I am still on ebay, mySpace and facebook, but that will be all........

Hear are some piccies of my baby boy at Christmas!!







All my wishes to you all for a wonderful new year!!!!!!!!!!!!
lots of love
from Vicky xxx

With loads of best wishes and hugs and kisses and wot-not!! :-)) to Kate, Richard, Michael, Steve, Julie, Rich8, Ali, Colin, Donna, David KB, Louise, Nic, Anne-Marie, Toby, Jane E, Andrew, Bob, Emma, Gary, Linda B, Christopher, Liv, Debs, James, Glen, Katrina, Lucia, Alex, amd Jon!!! and anyone else who I know! Have a wonderfull time!! xxxxx

Well since about 6am this morning I have been chopping, slicing, seasoning and simmering so now I have decided to have a break and a cup of well deserved tea!!...I like to be well prepared and I am happy to say about 90% of my dinner prep is done!! I have even seasoned my Turkey crown (doing a Nigella!!) by pulling back the skin and pricking it all over and then rubbing butter into the breast with some lemon juice and a sprinkle of rosemary!! Should be nice, I hope!!...but I still have heaps to do before I can realy put my feet up and relax! Also Derek finishes work early today so I will have to get his dinner ready soon after which I am going to clean my kitchen from top to bottom, ready for tomorrow! My fridge is stuffed to bursting though and I am finding it very difficult to fit stuff in there. This evening Derek and I are off to a neighbours party which should be fun, but I am realy looking forward to my bath, Port and supper! and a reletivly early night as the roast will need to be cooked from about 8am!

Anyway!! here are some piccies of my home in this festive season!
Looks like a bleedin' fairy grotto to me!! LOL!!!

MY TREE!!!........compleate with obligatory Troika pottery!!







.......and I even decorated my Henry VIII tapestry!!



Have a wonderful time folks! and see you next week!!

Lots of love
Vicky xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What century is Pope Benedict the 16th, living in??

I find it absolutly unbelivable to hear that the Pope has said saving humanity from Homosexuality is as important as saving the enviroment!!! Did this chap just step out of the Doctors Tardis from the Dark Ages? and does he understnad just how horribley hurtful such a comment is to gay and transgendered people? Now I am not going to waffle on about theolgy or the Catholic faith, but I am wondering what a man in his position is doing saying such things!
I, myself am not gay or a Catholic, although I am married to a Catholic! Derek was embarraced to hear the Pontiff's comments, and I just listened in disbelif!! I find it scarey that there is just a tiny hint of naziism in these kind of comments...sorry if this upsets folks, but thats just what I am thinking. I consider myself a Christian (actually a Baptised Methodist) but a Christian, if albeit a non practicing one, and belive in the teachings of Jesus in that we should love our neighbour as ourselves and be tolerent in all things...The Pope's comments are non of these things! In fact they are dangerous, coming from a man who is head of one of the biggest faiths on the planet! and coming so near to Christmas too, that this is going to stay in peoples minds for a long time, I think. At this time of year, what ever our faith, we should be celebrating the exquisite patchwork that is the human race! Not condeming it!! Try to imagin living in a world where everyone was EXACTLY the same!!! How boring would that be??? As a traveller I have lived and breathed the wonderful diversity of this world! I would not be totally besotted with half of Asia if it was not so colourfull...just as life itself is colourfull and Homosexuality is a part of life in this world!! To me, what the Pope said is like saying "we have to protect the world from redheads!" (of which I am one!) which sounds absolutly stupid...a little anecdote for you!! During my time as a travel manager, a respected banker from Barclays, next door to my shop, called in one day and asked me for information on all gay holiday resorts, for him and his partner! He was whispering to me, and then said "Is this ok?" is what ok, I had asked not understanding him, but he felt embarraced to be asking about gay resorts, poor chap! No one should be embarraced by their sexuality!!! Anyway I set to work finding him a company called "Respect Holidays" (the have now ceased trading) got on the phone to them, sorted my commision levels and hey Presto!! A Happy client, booked on a wonderful holiday! He came back to me time and time again, which I was very pleased about because he spent an absolute fortune, and whats more he recommeneded my humble travel shop to all his gay friends, to such an extent myself and my staff became gay specialists!!! On a different level another anecdote!!! A lady came to my shop one day and asked about flights to Etheopia. With a few taps on my keyboard I had a whole list of flights to Addis Abba and pointed them out to her! She looked at me in disbelife and said "You know the airports of Etheopia???" hehehehe well I just smiled but inside I was thinking "ofcourse I know!!! I am a bloody travel agent!!!"
Opppssss....I have gone off on a travel tanget again!!!....sorry!!
Anyway, basicaly I was discusted by the Pope's comments!!
They are damaging and upsetting, and soooooooooo not in touch with the real world!!!
Whether we are gay or strait we should love and celebrate just being who we are, and respect each other, always!

I promise my next entry will be more cheerfull!
I just got very annoyed by the Pope today!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

.......well I dont like hum bugs...but I do like Chocolate Eclaires!!

Ok........MOAN TIME!!!!

Mum!!!
God Bless her little Olbas Oil covered hanky!!!...Decided it would be great fun to drag me around town today on a last minuite shopping trip which included, Primark, the Pound shop, TK Max (I actually enjoyed that one because I got some nice Ecco boots) Wilkinsons, Debhanams, and Beatties!! PHEW!!!! She might be 75 but she can out shop me anyday!! Now I absolutly detest crowds so during a phone call early this morning I suggested we meet up at 9am at Primark, but Mum said no becuase she can't use her bus pass untill 10am, so she would have to pay, so I agreed to 10am. With it being just a few days away from Christmas the town centre soon got packed out with chav's, kids, prams, mobility scooters, and genrally all the pushing and shoving and barging about that ususaly goes on when town is at its busy, but this was madness!! Two of my bigest "room 101's" are HUGE prams and mobillity scooters! Supermarket trollies fall into this catogory for me too! For all 3 I belive folks should have to take a driving test!!!!! Honestly!! & Piped Chirstmas music in every shop grates my nerves too!! Yes!!! We all know its Christmas but do we realy have to listen to the same "best of" Chirstmas album over and over again in every shop we go in? Its not a bit of wonder that folks like me of a certain age realy do go all bah humbug this time of year! Also how the heck has Woolworths managed to clear their shelves so quickly when their so called "sale" was nothing more than a 10 % off if your lucky, debarcle! ...I went in our Woolies today and there was almost nothing on the shelves!! BUT they were still selling the Dr Who Micro Universe packs for £9.99!! I must admit though, that was all they had left!......AND Northampton dosent even have a real Christmas tree this year!! Instead we have somthing that resembles a giant green traffic cone with things stuck on it! Surely our council is not so hard up that they can't even aford a real tree?.....AND while I am having a moan, Derek commented on the fact that this is the 3 rd year we have not had a card from his Auntie Annie in Donegal, Ireland...He mentioned it as he went through today's post this evening after he came home from work, and stood counting on his fingers just how many years since we last had a card from her. Now the lack of a card is a very long story but to cut it short Auntie Annie (Derek's Mums sister) who was always very regular with her Chirstmas cards, stopped sending us one, abruptly, after Auntie Kitty died and left Derek a "substantial" chunk of her money in her will!!! Since this happened we have not heard anything from Dereks realitives who live in Ireland, but this is just plain simple jealousy! In reality it was Derek and I who cared for Auntie Kitty in her final years and even when she eventually went into a home because she had altzimers (like my Nanna) we always visted her every week and basicaly Derek was her only living relative who gave a hoot about her! Since her death Derek and I have been compleatly cut off from his Mums family becuase of the will...Now the lack of a Chirstmas card is realy sad!! But for some people the true spirit of Chistmas is over-ridden by jealousy, hate and lack of forgiveness! and what make it even more sad, is that these people freely call themselves "Christians"...???.....emmmm...I think not...
Now with all this off my chest, I should feel better....well I promise I will after a hot bath and some Port.........
.....And I just had a parcel arrive from Egypt!
Its tablets for my nerves!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a sad world we live in!

........AHEM

Of Troika that is as I have just listed my first peice for sale on ebay!
Its a nice, classic piece, coffin vase designed by Alison Brigden who was one of Troika's top artists in the late 1970's...Now the question is "will I make any money on it?" To be honest I choose this piece because it was my cheapest piece to date coming to mummy (me) for the princley sum of £85!! I have been busy listing other things too like some Dr Who videos, a 7 cassete lot of William Hartnell with a free gift and I had take piccies of other things I was going to list untill I realised that, listing things today means a finish day on Christmas Day!!!!!!!!! Arrrghhhhhhhh!!!! so I stopped listing for now as I dont think for two minuits folks will be looking for stuff on ebay on Christmas Day!! OMG I am dumb somtimes!!
*slaps head*
I have also listed my treasured collection Henry's six wives by Regency Fine Arts! Now this set orignally cost almost £500 about 10 years ago and its condition is pristine so I have started them at £69 with a "buy it now" for £250...I just hope the people that might bid on these dolls realises how valuable they are. What ever (if any) money I make on them will be going toward a Troika face mask which is the rarest of the rare! One sold yesterday for only £715, when at auction it could have fetched double that! Sadly I cna't aford that kind of money at the moment but I am working on it!!

Ever since I was a child I have not been a good sleeper...but I have always slept better with some form of furry friend on the bed, or other. So since we got Sirius I have always allowed him to sleep on the bed (which at first Derek thought was odd but soon got used to it.) Now firstly let me explain about my bed. Its a super-king size which means its about 7 foot wide (getting dovet covers for it is a pain in the arse so I make them!) Now surley this size of bed would fit two adults and a huge daft Briard cross?? But no!! Sirius has a habit of stretching out lengthways between me and Derek and fully stretched out he is about 5 foot long!!...Last night I woke to about 3 inches of bed to move on at about 4am. This had woke Derek up too, neither of us had any room and my lovely doggie was lying fully stretched out with his huge paws in the air, blissfully snoring! anyway I took hold of his front paws and tried to move him to a better position only to recieve a deep growl "Oi!! you can pack that in!" I told him and tried to move him further...the next thing I knew was he went for me, nastily, and bit my hand!!!....Sirius has never bitten me before! so at first I was quite shocked and tapped him on the nose and said "Naughty!!!" but I think Sirius is getting a bit two bossy for his huge furry paws! So pulling back the covers I got up and pulled him off the bed, onto the landing and shut the door!!!! He knew he had done wrong and I dident hear another peep out of him....recently Sirius has got very bossy for some reason and I think its becuase he is so used to getting his own way. If he wants somthing he will "paw" you and whine and bark untill he gets his way, so drinking tea and having a buscuit is vertually impossible to do in peace! If he is in the car with me and Derek and he decideds he wants to sit on my knee so he can stick his head throught the window, he will whine and bark from the back seat untill I let him! Now imagin a 30kg dog on your lap in a small car!!! Its not a nice expierence! So basically last night I just snapped with his "I will get my own way" attitude, just to remind him that his is NOT the boss!!...Anyway this morning he has been very quiet and subdued so I am hoping he has learned his lesson.

In other news, my "stolen" photos on iXtractor have now been removed, thank goodness! I had a curt email from them this morning saying so, so at least thats a bit of good news. Mum came for dinner yesterday and brouht us another home made Victoria Spong and some of her bread, which I was very pleased with. But Derek has not been well for a few days now and yesterday I found out exactly whats wrong with him. Yesterday when we got up he looked like the Elephant mans twin, becuase all the right side of his cheek was dreadfully swollen and he admitted he has a nasty tooth absess! Its quite normal when Derek is ill that he wont talk about it, and he haden't talked to me about this lastest illness. He just skulked around the house all weekend, moaning and growning, and he has even said he wont go to the Doctors or Dentist to get some antibiotics saying it would cost a fortune! Rubbish!!! He is just being a typical bloke who is ill!!! in other words a pain in the arse!! LOL!!!!!!!! the only thing Derek is realy suffering from is "Grumpy old git syndrome"
Off to twon later for some solitary peace and shopping! x

You know, at times in our lives we feel we have a great problam or a burden to carry, and you feel like your the only person in the world who has to go through it............?...........Well I have this problam every Saturday evening with "Strictly come dancing" on TV!!
Am I realy the only person in the UK who absolutly hates this rubbish with a vengence??????
What makes it worse is that Derek is an absolute fanatic for the programme, hosted by the "past his sell by date" Bruce Forsyth!! He will slob out on the couch in front of the telly every Saturday evening with his note book and pen, giving the contestants his own marks to see if they match the judges!! Mum loves it two so when the two of them get together the conversation is always "Ooooo such a shame watsit was voted off Strictly".........
I could SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND TONIGHT THERE IS A DOUBLE HELPING!!!!!!!!
Well my usual tac tic is to have a long bath when this crap is on....but tonight it seems I will be a wrinkled prune!!! What the heck is it all about anyway? As someone who actually attended ballroom dance classes as a child, I watch the dances they perform with horrified wonder and think "that is not how you dance the jive, Cha char, Tango, quick-step ect" and what the hell is "American Smooth"?? Well my ansewer is: its a dance made up because the contestants can't be bothered to learn proper ballroom dancing! *ahem* ......and my other gripe is why this programme which is an insult to any serious dancer, is always mentioned on the BBC news of a morning? Every single morning at some point, "Strictly" will be mentioned, and you would think with all that is going on in the world, surley something is more news worthy!
Ok...gripe over with...but tonight I will be taking some extra things into the bathroom with me...my portable DVD player, so I can watch a jolly good horror film while wrinkling in the bath, my port, and some nibbles, and said bath will be done by candlelight (and to give the film more ambience) ANYTHING to avoid this "Strictly Rubbish" on TV!!!
.........So your all going to shout at me now, because I hate this programme!! LOL!!!

Shockingly I have just found that some one has uploaded photos of me and Derek to a site called iXtractor which is bascialy a search for porn pictures site!!!!!! Why in Heavens name would anyone want to do this is totaly beyond me!!! and its upset me deeply...I sent them this message:

Dear iXtractor,
I dont know who has uploaded them, or why my photos are on here from photobucket, and I am not happy as I have not given my permission for them to be used here or anywhere else.
Could you please remove the photos uploaded form photobucket account:

vixtravels2

iXtracted by: lilcasino

I would realy appriecate your help in this matter.

best regards
Vicky Short

My Photobucket is set to PRIVATE for a reason and I want it to stay private!
Also I am not the only "victim" of this, as a quick internet search revealed! Many young ladies have had their photo's stolen in this manner, and what a horrible thing to happen too!!!...Now this got me thinking, have I upset someone? and this is their revenge (although I can't think for the life of me who I have upset) or more sinister, have I somehow picked up an internet stalker?? I even thought my git of an ex husband might have done this but I dont even think he would stoop so low!...Incedently my MySpace profile has been hit A LOT from exactly the same area in London (Lamberth Palace Road) and I have blogged on there asking this person who is soooooooo interested in my profile, to come and introduce themselves, but the coward has not...I have now taken my map of the page as it was freaking me out!!
I suppose this is just yet another reminder of just how dangerous the internet can be!!
Also I have just told Derek about this and he is fuming!!
He says if the photo's dont get removed he will be seeking legal advice, becuase there is a photo of him on there as well as me as a 14 year old!
Be careful folks!! I would hate to see any of my friends photos being used in this dispicable manner!
Remember!! the perves ARE out there!

((((((((((((huggz))))))))))))

How organised is everyone at the moment?

Shopping done?... Decorations up?... presents wrapped?

I am ashamed to admit it but my Christmas organisation started in September when I got my Turkey crown off the "cheapie" shelf in Morrisons. Its was a huge crown (just the breast) that was £5 off so I bagged a bargin and its been sitting in the bottom of my freezer since!
This year I have decided to do everything early so there is no last minuite panic (I usually leave stuff untill the last minuite) and because money is a little tighter this year...so I have been watching the cheapie shelf carefully and later bagged some roast potatos in Goose fat, some "the best" baby parsnips in honey glaze, and a packet of "the best" Potato Croquetts with Carephilly cheese!!! so practially all my Christmas dinner comes via the Cheapie shelf. As for my shopping and decorations, well thats done too!! So am I sitting back on my laurals and grinning like a Cheshire cat????....NO!!! as I am still in the process of doing lots of Winter cleaning...also I don't know if Dereks Auntie Joan will be joining us for Christmas dinner yet? She is a lovely lady who will be otherwise at home on her own this year so I have asked Derek to invite her, but I am thinking she might not accept. A: because I am a smoker and B: she hates Sirius!...I will happily go upstairs to have a ciggy and not smoke near her...(I dont smoke in the presence of non smokers anyway) but its trying to convice her. Derek will have to let me know soon though as I still have to plan ahead!
Anyway, I have made this TO DO LIST for Christmas Eve, as I nearly always forget somthing!

Here it is!!!

Finish tidying the house

Set the dinning table

Set the dining sideboard

Make up Brussels sprouts with bacon and a shallot. Rap and put in fridge.

Make up "Pigs in blankets" wrap and put in fridge.

Peel and slice Carrots

Peel and dice potatos

Make up sliced onion in vinager (its an "up-north" thing)

Make up stuffing and bread sauce, wrap and put in fridge.

Put defrosted Turkey crown in my roaster on a bed of veg and add a pint of water and a pint of white wine.

..........Un cork and drink copius ammounts of Warre's Port with feet up while eating stilton cheese and grapes!

The last entry is not an option! LOL!!!!!!!!
Standing the Turkey on a bed of veg in the roaster with the two pints of wine and water mix, is a little tip I picked up from Ivy, my chef at the Rifle Butt (first pub I managed)...Its simply cooks the Turkey more evenly and the water and wine evaporate to keep the Turkey moist! Also I have been expiermenting with sprouts for a long time now as I dont realy like them and cooking them with diced bacon and a shallot, even makes the sourest of sprouts more pallatable!! (slow cooked and left to chill over night)...The sliced onions in vinegar is a strictly up-North thing that I have been brought up with and apparently anyone south of Birmingham has never heard of!! Derek thinks its revolting but Mum and I still enjoy this simple accompanyment to any roast!...oh and while I am at it, here is my Last Minuite Shopping List!!!!!!!!!

HERE!!!!

Hairy Carrots (Carrots with the stalks on as they are sweeter)

Sprouts

Potatos

Christmas Pud

Brandy sauce

Fresh cream

Pate

Bread

Galic butter

Ordinary butter

Yule log

1 lemon

Smoked Salmon

1 cucumber

Bunch red grapes

Beers for Derek

1 bottle of Sherry

2 bottles of Port (one white one pink)

1 bottle of Advocart

Dandelion and Burdock and Cream Soda

Fruit juice, soda and tonic

Chocolate liqures

Some of this is most of the obscure stuff I forget usually half way through Christmas day, when everywhere is closed!! Also my drinks list is a bit skinny I know but Mum and Derek don't realy drink, although Derek likes his bottles of real ale or Cider and Mum likes a "Snowball" hence the Advacart. Port is for me (obviously) with the white port for Christmas day and the pink port for Boxing day!
Ok...now for the real reason why I blogged this!
I am so forgetfull I may even loose the lists I have made so my blog can be my emergency refrence! LOL!!

Finnaly a piccy of my baby boy this morning!!!



Merry Organising everyone!!! x

My hotmail adress has been down today from about 7am this morning!
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
so if anyone wants to contact me, please feel free to do it here if possible!
Remember I am on FaceBook as well as MySpace too!

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

http://www.myspace.com/victoriaharrison

see ya soon! x

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Some of these piccies are not kiddie friendly or work safe.........if in dought do not view them untill your alone!!

But they are not that bad realy! and certainly not over naughty!
its just my favorite funny piccies from online!

scroll down a little......


bit more.............


nearly there............







BIN LADEN HAS BIN TARGETED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Now belive me or not these "how to use the toilet!" signes are all over Asia! LOL



SMOKERS BEWARE!!!



what a strange way to play football...............???



...and this made me LOL untill I was in tears!



Yet another reason why I dont go to McDonalds!!



The difference between Women and Men..........and belive me!!! I actually DO know a guy who sees himslef like this!! LOL!!!



MALE EVOLUTION!!! sorry chaps!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!




This is a sign I always find amusing everytime I visit my local hospital!! yes its from Northampton!



INTRODUCING "DARTH GAYDAR!!" *runs away terrified!*



Make mine on the rocks please!!
This realy is a pic of mountineers actually CAMPING on a vertical rock face!



LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



...And this one always gives me the giggles!!

Where will it end?
I tell you where it will end...it will end with tobacco being made compleatly illeagal!

Tobacco products are to be sold "under the counter" when tobacco displays will be outlawed later today, by our nanny state govenment! Now is this going to stop well seasoned smokers like myself going into shops and buying ciggies? The answer is NO! The anti-smokers lobby's answer to all smokers is ban this and ban that without helping those who seriously want to pack up, and hindering those of us who enjoy tobacco. All the smoking ban has actually done is put thousands of publicans out of business and the anti smoking lobby is now set to wage war on the local corner shop too!!! I think about this in disbelif when we are a country on the knife edge of deep recession! I watched the news with mouth agape as a fat woman (who looks like she is on the brink of a heart attack through overeating) from the British Heart Foundation, as she spoke about the "Razamataz!" of tobacco displays!! What razamataz????? its just small boxes of tobacco on a shelf!!! LOL!!!! there are no adverts, no promotions, no nothing! Just boxes on a shelf! Her argument for banning displays was so laughable it was almost comic! Simon Clarke from FOREST (smokers rights) who is himself a non smoker, who was debating this issue with her, looked totally bemused by her daft, unthought of, comments!! My advice to her is go on a diet and stop stuffing your mouth with cream cakes, and actually think carefully about what your debating. She just made herslef look silly.
Has out Govenment actually got nothing better to do???
What about knife crime, yobbos with ASBOS, speeding drunk drivers, benifit cheats, child protection, immigration, under age drinking.............and the list just goes on and on, as yet again the taxpayers money is being wasted by daft legislation like banning tobacco displays. As far as I know a tobacco display never murdered anyone!
*lights ciggie*
*is fuming!!*

About 6 years ago now, I was watching some kind of "Tomorrows World" type kids programe that featured this new sound tech from the States!!
I have been fascinated in this ever since!
But what are the true implications of HSS??
In the past few years I have been keeping a close eye on this developing science and on the surface it seems superb!!! (a bit like an internet scam) Just think!!...sounds beamed directly at you that only you can hear so no more arguing in the car about who listens to what on the stereo!! You get to listen to your own music in your own private space and no one else can hear it unless they walk into the sound "beam"......
This short video shows you just how HSS works!



Unlike conventional loud speakers, in HSS, the sound is directed along a beam at a high frequency, as a result the sound is crystal clear and "IN YOUR HEAD" quite literally as you become the actual speaker!!...Now lets scratch that nice surface of listening to your own music, privatly...Already HSS is being used in Tokyo by Coca Cola to beam a plink plink fizz noise into the heads of unsuspecting passers by to make them buy a coke!! and the same application is being used at Disney World in Florida too...even darker!! the Military is also experimenting with HSS to engage the enemy in the field as at extream frequencies it could actually fry your brian and kill you!!! Also how about weirdo stalkers who get their hand on this? They could beam whispered messages into the heads of their victims and drive them mad!!!...I have to be honest here! the applications for this new HSS could be, at best sinister and at worst deadly!!! Do we, as the Human race, already driven to distraction with advertising, realy need to have this IN OUR HEADS!!! This is surely the worst thing thats ever been invented and science gone mad. And unless the use of HSS is tightly controled it could quite possibley drive the whole world population insane !
Suddenly George Orwells 1984 world sounds nice!!
Already hear in Northampton town centre we have loudspeaker announcements every 15 minuits warning smokers not to throw their discarded cig butts on the ground on pain of a £75 and "you will be caught on camera" threats........What about all the filthy, germ-ridden chewing gum that is spat onto our pavements by the million everyday???????????????
Food for thought methinks!!!

Ok, I am off to clean out my fantail Goldfish!!
see ya soon! x

Now Opera isent everyones cup of tea, but I was hooked when my Uncle took me to see HMS Pinafore when I was just 10! (at least it dident scare me like Jaw did when my Dad too me to see it the same year!) I loved the singing and the costumes, and for a 10 year old who was addicted to bight colours it was a real treat!...Now a while back I heard that my favorite Opera of all time, Mozart's "The Magic Flute" was being made into a movie, and yesterday I finally watched it!!
Firstly, let me explain somthing of the story and the bacground of this fantastic opera, for the benifit of the uninittiated!
Written in 1791 just before his death, Mozart had a wacky, wild and fantastic libretto to work on which was wrote by his good friend Emanuel Schikaneder...a bit like how I view horror movies as total escapasim, Emanuel Schikaneder's story is totaly fantasy with weird Masonic undertones (both Mozart and Schikaneder were Masons as was my Uncle Bob!) and is the age old story of a battle between goon and evil, which is almost the same as the Ramayana story. It involves the young princess Pamina being in the clutches of Sarastro, and the Queen of the Night begs Prince Tamino, who has fallen in love with Pamina's portrait, to free her!! My favorite character in Papageno, the bird catcher who is Tamino's friend, but he is a very funny, strange but lovable character. Incedently the amazingly beautiful "Aria of the Queen of the Night" was one piece I actually learned to sing in music lessons at school!!! Unbelivably it contains a VERY high F note which I could sing with ease back then, but I couldent do it now!! I was singing along to it while I watched yesterday and could only manage a strangled screech!! LOL!!!! Anyway I have had the privledge of seeing the Magic Flute staged about 4 times now and next time its staged in Northampton I must admit I will be there again! Originally written in German, it is nearly always performed in German too, but today English subtitals are displayed, discreatly on a screen next to the stage so you can follow the story. But with the Magic Flute its not that difficult realy....Now I come to the best bit...How on earth would this fantastic Opera be transfered to a movie???? I must admit I watched the first bit with trepidation as the opening scenes take the viewer back to World War one...for some reason Branagher set this in the trenches, but I must admit it works well...The Opera is sung in English too so no need for subtitals!! and has a feel of being on a journey to Oz with Dorothy, if I am honest! We even have a surreal bit with singing sandbags of all things! But as this film went on I found myself actually glued to my TV screen and this movie is so beautifully filmed, it realy does take you into Emanuel Schikaneder's weird world ( I am convinced the guy was on drugs when he wrote this! LOL) But I found myself falling in love with Papageno all over again as well as thinking what a superb introduction to opera this could be for a younger generation, while also thinking how on earch did they manage to squeeze an Opera which lasts nearly 4 hours, into just over two?? But it works so very well, and I well recommend every one gives this movie a go, even if its just once! Now I am waiting with baited breath to see if they will transform my other favorite opera "Don Giovanni" into a movie! This one too is written by Mozart and is a dark, shivvery, ghost story...but that for another blog...
As previously mentioned, The Magic Flute has undertones rooted firmly in Free Masonry, of which I have had a life long interest which was, like my love of Opera, fired by delightful Uncle Bob (Robert Lord) since I was about 5!! He was a Grand Master of the Warrington lodge untill his death in 1994. But from being a toddler he would entrance me with Masonic stories about King Solomans mines and the Great Architect who created the world (this being is non religous) as well as showing me all his Masonic regalia along with his beautiful apron embrodered with gold thread!! I was even packed off to ballroom dance classes aged 13 so I could attend Masonic Ladies evenings (yes!! there is such a thing oddly enough) with my Auntie Dot, where my uncle would proudly introduce me too his fellow Masons! But crikey if half of them knew anything about what he had taught me about Masonic ritual they would have heartily booted him out!!! LOL!!! But I found it all very fascinating and I still enjoy learning about Free Masonry today. I suppose it fascinates me because its non religeous. So The Great Architect can be seen as God or any other religious daiety so relay it brings men together from all religious backgrounds.........I just love the Masonic concept of truth and tolerence and taking good people and making them better people!

x

Below is a trailer for this enchanting movie! Hope you enjoy!!

No shock there realy, as I suspected for a long time that this woman was involved in her daughters own abduction...But how can a mother be so evil!??? I can't understand it!...with all the horrible child cruelty cases we hear almost daily, I question "What is wrong with these peoples minds!" As they must certainly be sick to do this to their own kids...Reading Karen Matthews story is a shocking one as she is only 33 but IMHO looks about 73. Has 7 kiddies by 5 different fathers, and gave the performance of a connsumate actress while her daughter was missing!! She is now reportedly cowering in her single cell with the TV on 15 hours a day trying her best to ignore threats from other inmates who have put a 10 cigarette price on her head!! As a smoker I would have said one cigarette will do!...years ago my step dad, Eddie Baguley who was a drunk and a commen theif, spent quite a bit of time in and out of jail, and he used to tell me and mum about how inmates will give convicted child molesters/murders HELL!..Well I hope fellow inmates of Karen Matthews give her hell too, becuase she deserves to rot there!!
Speaking as a woman of 41 who adores children, but sadly will probabally not have my own now, I simply cannot understand the actions of this evil tart!! I have always wanted children but it just never happened, and now time has almost run out and at this stage I could not even get NHS help! So I find it so annoying that a woman like this could have kids at all, when I cannot, and could give a child all the love education and protection in the world!!! It realy breaks my heart!! This overly-ugly CHAV should be locked up for life at least!...and dont get me started on the McCanns!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! they should be locked up too for blatent neglect, but they are not methinks, because they are Doctors, and afterall "money talks"!! What kind of mother could leave her toddler children, alone while they went drinking with friends??? Certainly not a caring mother!! If I had, had kids I would have never left them out of my sight for a second!, let alone to go out drinking, which to me would have been unthinkable!!! Why dident they ask the babysitting service at the apartments? of which I know there is one because I have sold this place to many a happy family and they pride themselves on their childcare services...whatever the McCanns say, there is absolutly NO EXCUSE for their thoughtless neglect! and it should be punished!! Children are a gift, not a comodity! not to be just pushed aside like a neglected toy on Boxing Day! I would not even treat my dog Sirius like this, let alone a child!
Ok, rant over with....
But can I just say there has been a lot of internet waffle on about just how ugly Karen Matthews is....well lets just say I would happily re-arrange her face for free!!!!!!! because she needs it, desparetly!
At least Shannon is now safe from this evil cow! all my wishes are with this little girl who did not deserve to have a horrible, evil mother like this!

Good Holy person on a bike!!!
When will these scammers just F.........GO AWAY!!!

This morning I recieved just such a scam message form some guy in Africa posing as "Steve" saying my photo had been selected by beautylinks london for a billboard advertising coca cola at Heathrow airport!! ROFLMAO!!!!
Basically this scam works by them asking you first to email them privatly and not on myspace, and them they email you a fake cheque for say $3,000 of which you keep 20% and then you transfere the rest of the money back to them via Western Union!!...it also works by praying on peoples ego's!!...Fortunatly I dont have an ego! I have no reason to have one...but what if this half convincing scam message was sent to some 15 year old would be starlet? They would almost certainly be taken in!
Sorry but I have no other words to describe these scammers but EVIL BASTARDS!!
Anyway, I am a wise in the ways of the world, old bird and spotted it as a scam immiediatly and marked it as spam on myspace. Doing this stops the email they have given being used to pray on other people on myspace. But they operate on other networking sites such as facebook (which I hardly use as its too complicated and I think all that super poke thing is just a bit childish) and Bebo and probabally other places too! One way to spot a scam though is too look at the spelling and grammer which will usually be dreadful (a bit like mine! LOL) and they will often try to cover this up by using internet abbrievations such as U (for you) Remember for the scammers, English is their second language! and secondly the "realistic" content! like why on earth would coca cola want to use a pic of a 41 year old woman with spots and middle age spread!??? its so bad its almost laughable! But no, I shouldent laugh because there are thousands of young boy or girl starletts out there who would be very vulnerable to this kind of thing, so I thought I had better blog it so other young people could be aware that these are evil people out there who are praying on your dreams and ambitions...........

In other news Mum hacked me off yesterday by dragging me into town under false pretences saying she had shopping to do, which I thought well I better go and help her out with it...Anyway, when I got to the bus station she had already done her shopping and her pull along trolly was stuffed full to the brim and weighed a ton!! "So where do you want to go then?" I had asked a bit bemused "Whereever!" she replied, unhelpfully. So we just ended up having lunch and I took her to TK Max where I ended up pulling her megga heavy trolly for her and almost pulled my arm out of the socket!...AND I have to go back to town today as I have a forgotton parcel to post, and I have to take a DVD back to HMV (which I bought yesterday) as the assistant had not removed the red "box tag". These box tags are horrible!!! and can only be removed by a magnetic gun thingy!! The red plastic thing goes right across the CD inside the box, so if you try to remove it yourself you will damage the disc so badly it will be unplayable!!...well I aint going anywhere yet as the weather is blowing a veritable storm outside (no snow though) but its set to clear by lunchtime so I will go back to town then!

laterz x

Apart from the snowdrift I walked out into at 9am this morning!!
Crikey its cold!!
Last night I was sat in my Star Trek chair watching David Starkey's "Monarchy" season 2...wrapped in two blankets, wearing two pairs of socks and cuddling a hot water bottle!! My Port warmed me up though so I was greatfull for that! This morning I had a one off parcell to post so after being awake since 6am I decided to go into town for an hour or two. Because its so cold though I dident phone mum to ask her if she wanted to go! It was too early anyway.
Snow was drifting down Abington street, manically at one point, as I went to put a cheque in the bank, and had a fruitless search around Woolies. It soon stopped however, and dident stick, but apparently there is more to come later this week...Brrrrrrrrrr!!!! Anyway I decided to take a trott around Primark, where they have now got this "VAT off prices" thing at the moment, so taking advantage of this I got some pyjamas, 2 pairs of leggins and some socks. The checkout was very busy, and staff were complaining how cold it was as the store heating had broke down. Now by the time I got to the checkout, I was served by a very chatty middle aged woman who promptly sneezed 3 times over my purchases!! I am no snob but I was horrified by this, as she had just sneezed into her hand and had not even truned away, while using her hands to wrap my things! I was horrified because I realy do pick up every single bug that is going about...so when I got home all my new clothes went straight in my washing machine for a jolly good wash! But the rest of my trip to town was pleasent despite this and I even had breakfast while I was there with a hot tea which realy warmed me up...Now today I realised that while an alarming number of shops have closed in the town centre, I discovered 3 new shops today! Gadget type, tacky Christmas present type shops! There was one on the market square and another 2 in the Grosvenor Centre, but somthing quite delightful caught my eye in the 3rd shop!....On a shelf with lots of novelty lighting type thingys was this little virtual volcano, a tiny wee thing, bright red lighted, continuiusly erupting red bubbles! I was quite enchanted!!! Anyway I looked benith the shelf for the boxes of things to buy one and they were no where to be seen, there was just this little volcano lamp sat on the shelf! I asked at the desk and the man and woman started saying how well they had sold...so well it turned out to be the last one in the shop! The man went into the back to see if he could find the box for the display model and came back empty handed! Now here I started using my haggling skills I had picked up in Asia and asked it it would be discounted. The woman was umming and ahhing, so I made like to look I was going to leave. Now the proper price for this little lamp was £7.99 but when she saw I was going to leave the shop she hastily offered me £3.99 to which I agreed, avidly!! Bargining always works but its knowing how to do it, and when your not getting anywhere, make like your going to leave without buying anything, and the price magically drops!! Well it works well in Asia and it was certianly working well for me today...so I bagged my little unusual bargin and made my way to the bus station to come home as I had left Sirius long enough...I was greeted (as usual) with fiercley wagging tail and a huge very exctied doggie, who was chuffed to bits when I gave him the beef jerkey I had bought him in town!
Hope everyone stays warm in this freezing cold weather!
Bagging a bargin certianly warmed me up today! x

Very surprized to find a karaoke version of this today!!!

so here goes..............

WHY!!! WHY!!! WHY!!???????

A group calling themselves the Deccan Mujahedeen have massacered tourists and locals alike in gun and granade attacks on two of the top hotels in Mumbai (formally Bombay)...Horror shocked me to the core when I heard this terrible news from this vibrant and very beautiful city, which has a close place in my heart! The Deccan Mujahedeen were said to be spacifically targeting UK and US passport holders at the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels (both 5 star internationl class hotels) and one UK person has been reported dead.......As far as I know this group of worthless terrorists are from southern India, so why Mumbai which is on the west coast of Northen India!
Mumbai is normally a magical place filled with colour, chaos, contradictions and charm, like I could not find anywhere else in the world!! (and thats saying somthing!!) and from the moment I first visited this vibrant city back in 95', I fell in love! It was like stepping back in time to 1972 as everything was so very retro! The locals are very friendly, food is excellent and the beer cold!! Markets are a hussle and bussle, and you can't help but notice the huge gap of poverty and wealth! which is somtimes upsetting to an unacustomed westen tourist! In fact the whole of India can be challenging to say the least, unless the first time tourist recieves expert advice, and reads a "Lonely Planet India" from front to back!!! But I do adore the place because of its beautiful diversity, and ever-changing Kaliedascope of culture! ...and I will always love it, and hope to return one day!
So why have these evil people picked on this gorgeous city????
It appears to me (from what I have heard on the news) that they are mainly targeting tourists, now is this to undermine the local economy, because if it is, it just might work as the tourist and buisness $ boosts the economy in Mumbai and indeed most of India! These attacks will hit the locals who are involved in tourism, very hard! and in India there is often a very fine line between living in reletive comfort and poverty...so although the terrorists are mostly attacking UK and US nationals all they are realy doing is hurting the local people's jobs and families!...Much like the bomb attacks on Bali! After the Bali attacks I was invited as a member of P.A.T.A (Pacific Asia Travle Association) by Garuda Indoniesia to travel to Bali as part of a delegation of UK travel professionals, to promote tourism back to the island...But that trip broke my heart!!! I was invited to 5 star hotels that were totally empty and told to ignore the povety caused by lack of tourism...so much so I spent the whole trip either in tears in my hotel room or totaly drunk out of my brain!! simply because I was heartbroken by what I was seeing and hearing! On the flight home I drank a litre of Vodka to try to forget, but I was due to be interviewed at Gatwick on my arrival back by the Travel Trade Gazette...needless to say I was too plastered to be interviewed, embarracingly!.......This is totaly my fault as I get far too attached to the places I have had the privledge to visit, and very attached to the local people, and hearing news like this just hurts so much!
My thoughts and prayres are with the people of Mumbai, thier families, and the travellers who have been caught up in this senseless massacre! My heart goes out to them all.......
and lets just hope the terrorists are caught and delt with swiftly and severly by the Indian authorities!

Absolutly awful news this evening, in that after 99 years of retail Woolworths is to finally go out of buisness!!!
Such an awfull shame that we have to loose this iconic, British chainstore!!
In Warrington, where I was born, Woolworths was very much a part of my childhood, and Mum took me there shopping at least once a week! In the early 70's the Warrington shop had a whole floor just devoted to toys, and it was like a kiddies paradise! and has graced me with some superb memories of the toys and the pick and mix (which my Dad used to love!) so I shall be so sorry to see it go...Our store hear in Northampton though has not been up to scratch for a long time though and their sellection of WHO merchandise has been absolutly dreadfull! (another reason I stopped collecting) I got one or two bargins only in there in the last 5 years, and I certainly found better deals in Woolworths in Southport, Manchester, Liverpool and Ormskirk!...I feel so very sorry for those Woolworths employees who have to loose their jobs at this time of year!! Its heartbreaking!! This recession realy is biting much more badly than we think...In Northampton retail outlets are closing by the dozen, and its now commen place to walk down Abington street past lots of empty and closed shops!...a little selfish I know, but I am glad I no longer work as a retial manager as I used too, because in the current climet I may well have had another nervous breakdown!!
Anyway, to take the sting of this terribly sad news, I have dug up this old Wollies Christmas ad from 1981, to see if anyone remembers it!!! This amazingly catchy tune "Have a cracking Christmas" realy got stuck in my head when I was 14, and even found myself humming it at School!! LOL!!! Also it was ablaze of stars of the time such as the Goodies, Anita Harris, and Windsor Davies, among others!! Looking at the prices and the old games is fun too!!
Hope it cheers you up this evening!!

YES................its me singing............

Ahem..........

*hides*

Piccies are fun though!!
They include the handsome men (AND dog) in my life!!
Colin in his white "Pertwee" shirt at home in Surrey!
Derek, hubby with beard and long hair....
...and some hunky chaps who I have no idea who they are, but I woulden't mind finding them in my stocking! LOL!!!

Oh and some piccies of 70's toys that I actually got for Christmas as a kid at some point...Ingre the Troika...I am loopy!!!!!!!!

.........and I have one!!!
A real nasty one too!!!
Methinks last night I must have dropped off too sleep doing a head stand or somthing as this morning I have this horrible pain in my right shoulder!...maybe I have over done the cleaning up a bit and pulled a muscle or somthing!
You see I have been blitzing my home making it ready for Christmas and this has even involved getting out the drill and putting up some shelves which I did yesterday! Its silly realy but I am sensitive to very loud noise so when I am using a drill I have to stuff my ears with cotton wool...still, I made a neat job of it, and its another place to store my vases!! My best friend with the cleaning though this week has to be Cillit Bang! I have absolutly Cillet Banged the houe to death!! Its the "floor" version but watered down it will clean almost anything even my hated white leather 3 piece suit....Let me explain why its hated....For 4 years after we moved here we were stuck with Dereks Mums old suit and it was horrible. Now while I was away on a travel agents educational to Turkey I cam home to find this brand new, white leather 3 piece suit! a: leather is a pain in the arse to clean. b: its animal skin which I dont like, and c: its not even that comfy!!
"I thought we were going to choose a suit together!" I had moaned to Derek, and he had replied that he saw this suit and fell in love and so just bought it....a year or so down the line and we got Sirius who has promptly covered it in claw marks, and being white it gets absolutly filthy if left! (I could have almsot coped with a black or brown suit) Well untill now I have been experimenting with cheeper ways to clean it, other than using expensive leather cleaner, and one of my methods was waterdown weak bleach, but it made the suit smell awfull!!!....Enter Vicky's friend good old Cillet Bang!!! About half a capfull in two litres of boiling water, some yellow rubber gloves, and good old fashioned elbow grease and my suite is sparkling like new again!!!
Any way I wont go waffling on about my cleaning routine....and I am having a day off today!
Mum called this morning and I think she was going to ask me to come to town with her, but NO!!!!! I refuse point blank to go into town on any Saturday between now and New Year as its soooooooooo MANIC!!! Only the brave dare Northampton town centre on a weekend where Christmas shopping is involved, and gangs of teenagers mill about in groups, getting in the way, not to mention massive "four wheel drive" prams being pushed two at a breast by chav mums no older than 18!!! What is it with this fashion for huge prams???? Does it mean the bigger and more bulky your pram is the better a parent are you???...and if you dont get knocked over by legions of super prams, your bound to get knocked over by an electric wheel-chair zoooming along like its rocket powered!!!! Northampton town centre realy is an assult course this time of year, and certianly not for the faint hearted........than goodness I have already done all my Christmas shopping!!

*grins*

My Fantails are at it again this morning and I am even considering separating them to give poor Hermionie a break...the only thing is she seems to like the attention and keeps flashing her tail at the boys!!! What a tart!!! I think the brief warm spell here may have triggered these passions, but I am not going to save any eggs this time as brining up baby fry has been a lot of hard work and indeed heartbreaking when they die! I currently have 7 fast growing babies and I am happy with that...I have to go and meet mum later on today but I may well do a small water change on the tank to lower the temp and calm their romantic hearts...Well what do you do with anything randy??? Poor a lot of cold water over it!!!! LOL!!! methinks the same applies to my fish!
Well I grabbed a little gem of a bargin on ebay yesterday!!...and no, for once it wasen't Troika!
When I was a child I had a thing for paperweights and had a collection of about 20, which have all been lost in various moves at some point...Now the Prince of paperweights has to be the "Caithness" paperweight and in normal times these can sell for anything up to £200!!! I saw this delightful piece yesterday and it is a Caithness intitled "Saracen" so yesterday evening a placed a small bid, only to find this morning I had acctually got the paperweight!!!! My bid had only been a miserly £14 so I expected to be outbid very easily on this. Now I dident wait up for the gorgeous weight to finish as it was some un-Godly hour in the middle of the night...but this morning I had a "pay now" next to the item in my-ebay!
Yay!!!!!!!!!! I am well please with this delightful bargin, and here it is!!



3 more parcels to post today, and I am meeting Mum!
The only thing is I am not realy making much on my ebay sales realy!! I have noticed though that ladies boots from Primark are selling realy well on ebay so I might buy some today to sell on there if they are cheep enough in the shop! Mum loves Primark...and she loves Wilkinsons too, but in Northampton the two shops are about a mile apart which realy takes it tole on her old legs, bless her! So we will perhaps have a break at Gregs for a tasty and warming pasty, between both shops!
Oh and I am waiting for my latest Troika vase to be delivered today...as well as a little somthing for Dereks Christmas stocking!!

back soon x

Someone (goodness knows who) has put a collection of Denys Fisher toys on ebay (removed today) which had a whopping 50 bids!!! with a top bid of £11,600!!!!!!!!!!! I nearly fell off my chair in amazement and poped over to a merchanside website to see if anyone had noticed, and there was a whole thread devoted to this auction! Now the DF toys from the 70's are much sort after and indeed rare and intact with their original boxes can fetch around £300 per piece, so this bidding was well over the top...I read though the thread with interest and it appears that the seller had used someone else's pictures in his auction, and then this someone else (who was justifiably very angry) decided to put on a whole load of false bids on these items!!! Not sure how this would have worked if this bidder had won, but if I am reading it right, it was a pretty silly thing to do!...Well I have stopped collecting myself now and am gradually selling off my whole collection as my readers will know. December will be my next listing binge for "Who" stuff but I just hope no idiot decides to put millions of bids on my auctions, as I have noticed several other sellers have jumped on the Denys Fisher bandwagon with this one and selling their toys too!
On the Troika front, there is a vase listed at the moment that is soooooooo obviously fake, but amazingly has bids on it!!! The art on the vase which isent even a Troika shape, appears to have been decorated by a two year old at nursery class...Surely if people decide to collect Troika I do wish they would at least learn somthing about the designes and decorations!! The person selling this vase has worded it carefully with "not sure this is genuine so you decided" but it dose have Troika written on the bottom so its a total rip off!! I am hoping ebay will spot this soon before someone get dissapointed...the vase is already on a "how to spot a fake guide" on ebay so I am hoping it will be removed shortly....Selling and buying is so slow becuase of this credit crisis...Today a Troika coffin vase sold for a miserly £50!!! about a quater of its value, and there isent much else nice that is listed! Another vase at a starting price of £135 finished unsold, with no bids...so time to find another bargin soon methinks!! A rectangular vase listed today caught my eye, which dates from the mid to late 70's and at a start price that is sufficently high so as not to attract too many bidders and, just about what I can afford! We shall see....
Mum came for lunch today and Derek took her home again just before it got dark. Also I have been sorting through some of our old Christmas decorations as last year most of them got ruined becuase of a leaky tank in our loft...thats a very long story...But basically Christmas week we had water pouring through the dining room cieling, and the central heating boiler packed up!!! I remember sitting here by the fire will all my candals blazing waiting for the engineer to come and fix things. It turned out that the boiler and the tank in the loft wern't connected so we had to get another plumber to fix the leak in the loft!! When Derek went up to retrive the decorations about 70% were totally ruined!! Including some vintage paper decorations from the 60's which were worth a small fortune!...anyway with Christmas fast approching I thought I would give them a final sort out and bin the ruined stuff, which I have!
Right then, I am hopping off, but with no plans for tonight I might just watch "the other Boleyn girl" again, and get a weeny bit plastered!!

Took this last night and was realy pleased with the result!!



Anyway I wont go waffleing on about Troika apart from its getting very difficult to find good examples on ebay, which the resession biting....sellers are setting unrealistic "reserve" prices on items or selling "buy it now" for silly sums of £1,500!!! Now in a normal world this is what some Troika is actually worth! but in a resession world you would be lucky to get £300! for a good piece...this is why I have decided to collect it now realy as its a buyers market!
In other news, my Dyson broke (hardley news worthy but I was so annoyed) well the drive belt broke, so it had to be fitted with a new one...I am on a cleaning spree at the moment to get the house absolutly spotless for Christmas! Which includes tackling the kitchen too, not that its much of a mess as I tend to clean up as I go cooking wise!....Derek is off today as he promised he would take around Mum's old rocking chair to her, which has just been sitting a little forlorn in my guest bedroom! She also wants an old cupboard that is sitting in my garage but we have no way of getting that in the car so will have to hire a van...and I hae to get up to the pet shop for some more fish food.
Exciting stuff eh?????
NOT!!!

The Great Troika "Chimney vase" dilemma for you!!!

Should I or shouldent I???? I realy dont know what to do about this one!

Its this vase I am chasing on ebay. Now its Troika and I have dated it to the late 60's by its style and design, and its by the artist Marilyn Pasco. At auction in the UK this would probabally fetch about £500!! But this one is for sale in the USA at a current bidding cost of £222 and it finishes at about 8pm tonight. Here is the vase!!



I have told myself not to go for it if it goes above £250 because there is the shipping fee from the US to be considered in this, which is not cheep. Mum thinks this vase is "Pig ugly" In her own elequent words, but I think its absolutly gorgeous, and the fact its a genuine 60's piece makes this vase highly collectable, and a good investment....but I dont know what to do!!

Please help lovely folks! x its decision time!!

The recent cold snap has effected my largest fantail, Hemionie (Mum to my fry) in that every morning recently, when the tank has cooled down over night, she is sitting at the bottom in a sulky mood...Now the advice I have recieved from the fish forum has been varied and even suggested I put a heater in the tank, but I am not going to do anything as drastic as that! Its only effecting one fish and not the rest of them. Anyway I have set the heating to come on an hour earlier to warm the tank, gently, and I just hope this will help!!
Troika collecting news!
2 pieces I recently set a "snipe" on went for a price over what I had sniped so I dident get them. It was a bit of a bad idea though bidding for more Troika as I still have this refund looming over my head like the heads-mans axe!! So perhaps it just wasen't meant to be! Anyway an absolutly gorgeous "Chimney vase" finishes on Saturday evening. Its has a weird face design on the front and I have dated it to be circa 1969 as the artist, Marilyn Pascoe only worked for Troika untill about 1973 and this is definatly some of her earlier work. Now at the moment the vase in in the USA (apparently coming from an old Florida estate) and at the moment the bidding is standing at $227 USd (about £148) which is ok, for the moment and I have already emailed the seller for post charges to the UK which is going to be a very fair £18!! The seller even says in his listing that he would like this vase to be returned to England, so I thought "Come home to Mummy!!! you lovely Troika vase" and set a snipe on it for a goodly value!
At about tea-time yesterday the phone rang and it was Mum!
"Are you bringing me around this sausage cassarole or what?" She asked.
The night before I had made this cassarole and phoned Mum to ask if she wanted any, to which she had said yes, but I had totally forgotten about! So after dinner we took the short drive to her flat where I off loaded a large cassarole dish filled with my cassarole! But Mum had been baking and she had made us two loaves of Bread! (she is an expert bread maker) fresh and still warm from the oven! The bread she bagged up and placed in a carrier bag along with some onions for me as I am making a stew on Sunday, and a fresh cream scone for Derek! (its had been part of a pack of two) which I thought was a superb exchange for my cassarole! LOL!!! On Sunday, mum has invited us to lunch too!! But I will be making my stew in the evening in my slow cooker, and leave it to "mature" for a couple of days before serving....for those of you that dont cook, stew of any kind must be left to mature after cooking to bring out the full flavour! So between Mum and me for next week we have homemade stew and crusty home made bread with real butter! Heck my mouth is watering!! My stew will keep for up to too weeks if I dont freeze it, and my slow cooker holds enough for about 25 portions!
Ok I am peckish now.........whats for lunch!??

America has a new President elect!!! *yay!!! dances*

Now I am not a very political person but I am so pleased about this news this morning!! But its been a long time coming in that America needs to get rid of the old fuddie duddies, and clear away the dead wood, and make way for this new, young and fresh, very intelligent man! It was indeed exciting to watch the news this morning and see so much joy instead of the usual doom and gloom the morning news often brings....It would be nice if we could have Barak as the Prime Minister too!!!.......I can't stand Gordon Bown or James Cameron, and dont trust any politician, although my roots are in Labour, but there is no one decent in this country to vote for anymore!!....but hey!!! I am not going to get into politics here!!! I dont know enough about it for a start!! LOL!!!
Ok...off the politcis now!

In other news!!
I had a terrible day yesterday with Mum in town for a start, who was still taking painkillers like they are sweets! Neither of us wanted lunch so I offered to buy us some pasties at the local bakery...Mum declined and bought a custard cake instead!! Diabeties my ARSE!!!!!!!!!!! And then when I get home I find I have a message from one of my ebay buyers stating that my Louis Vittion briefacse is a FAKE!!!!!!! well this was news to me, as when I bought the case it came with a dust bag and keys and a certificate which have all subsequently been lost, and to all intents and purposes was authentic! Anyway, I wont go into detail here, but I have offered her a full refund on return of the case! There is nothing else I can do....
In my phone call to Mum at 9 last night she sounded human again (almost) but I think I may have put her off a bit because yesterday in town I told her she sounded "drunk and out of it" the night before on the phone...well I hope the message has got through, but I do wish the Doctor would take her off these tablets. She registers with a new Doctor today!! so fingers crossed!
Hopping off now to watch some more of this exciting news!
x x

Crikey she has been a worry all my life with her pill popping and wild antics on her motorbike when she was in her 60's!! I spent many a time rushing to hospital after I had heard she had been in an accident. Fortunatly she no longer has the motorbike....but I think she may be popping a wee too many pills.....as I found out when I phoned her last night at the usual 9pm!
I shall explain!
When she first moved in and I still had my nasty cold, she gave me some whacky painkillers with a warning of "Only take one!!! they are VERY strong!!" Well silly cow here (me) decided to actually take 2 one evening, and I was totally off my head, and it was indeed scarey, and needless to say I haven't taken them since (I shall stick to Asrpin! LOL).......BUT!...my Mum has also been on the highly addictive Temezapam sleeping tablets for over 30 years...Now back to my 9pm phone call last night! For a start it took her ages to answer the phone and when she did, I actually began to wonder if it was my Mum who I was speeking too!! She was slurring her words and not making any sence and when I asked her about it she laughed and just said "Ha!!! and your p***ed!!" Anyway, because I could hardly understand a word she was saying I cut the call short, had supper and went to bed only to be awake by 4am worrying about her, and I have concluded she may be over-medicating! If she is taking these very strong pain killers as well as the sleeping tablets, they will send her into fairy land!!! and at her age, is highly dangerous!! Now the thing is with my Mum, she will just go on a freaky if I suggest this too her (as usual) and either blame me, or the Doctor or whoever else she has in mind...so I have to come up with another plan, with the decision NOT to ring her at 9pm to see if she is ok! (I couldent understand a word she was saying last night anyway so a phone call is a bit pointless) I fully understand the stress she is under with the move and all the things wrong with the flat like taps not working and murkey water ect, but she wanted this, just not all the hassles that go with moving! Now this morning she phoned me at 9am and sounded as bright as a button!! "Oh you sound better!" I had exclaimed to her, where she hastily passed the whole thing off, blaming it on having a bad stomach!! Sorry Mum...but a bad stomach dosent make you slurr your words and talk nonsense!!
Today I have some more parcels to post so I have to go into town again soon and Mum says she wants to meet me for some more shopping, as she put it "I have a list as long as my arm!" but she still has to wait in for the chap coming to fix her taps! So I explained I could only wait untill a certain time and then I would have to go with or without meeting her, so I suggested if the repair man comes she should ring me and let me know if she is ready or not.
OMG parents can be such a worry!!
I just dont want a 75 year old drug addict on my hands...the decision to stop phoning her is a difficult one.......But what can I do?

Just a few I am afraid as I have had quite a quiet weekend!!

Mum came on Saturday for a shower!
She is having huge problams with the water at her new flat, and so she can't have a bath, and has already broken one kettle trying to boil heaps of water for one! She got a new kettel last week at Wilkinsons! She dident stay long but Sirius had a hissy fit when she left and barked for about an hour while looking out of the window, wondering where his "Nanny" had gone...later on in the evening though he was not well and had a bit of a runny bottom and did not eat his dinner. Derek gave him a shower because he had messed himself and then I covered him up with a blanket on the couch to stop him getting a chill. He wasent that bad though as he still managed his milk and biccies for supper! He seems ok now, but he will be sulking later on today when I have to go and post some more parcels!
My Troika fund has built up again, so I am now chasing a rather nice large wheel vase due to finish on Wednesday. I have already set it in auction sniper, I just hope the price dosen't go to high....there are a couple of other little pieces I have my beedy eye on though... *grinns*
Dident go anywhere yesterday because it was Dereks ironing day, and later he was watching the Grand Prix! Let me explain about Dereks ironing! I can't iron!!! I am absolutly hopeless!!!!!!! I cook, I clean and do the washing and all the other household chores, but I simply can't iron! In fact my ironing is so bad, Derek wont let me near it so thats the one household chore that is solely his!! Apparently in his youth Derek had expert tuition from his Mum in the art of ironing, and doing razor sharp creaces on shirts (I just do creases all over the place!! LOL!) so this is why thats his job! Anyway he had let it build up for over a week so yesterdays ironing session was well over an hour.
Ok, back to today!
I have 3 parcels to truss up today and go out to post them!
But I have a sneaky feeling that before I go out I will get a call from Mum with a shopping list! hehehe!!

back soon x x

By Loreena McKennit and its called the "Mummer Dance!"

Certain memories just pop into my head like bubbles in my bubble bath, of an evening...and this one "popped" while I was on the bus yesterday going into town to meet Mum for shopping!...it made me shivver.......

It had been a very sunny Wednesday morning back in 1988 when I was awoken by a stange sound...
A tinge of fear had ran up my spine as my newly woken brain reminded me that I was alone as Adrian (my first marriage) was off on a Meterology course in Bracknell, and this sound, was acutually someone trying to break into my house!!!!
18 months before we had bought the terrace stone cottage in New Mills in Derbyshire and money wise things had gone from bad to worse, where over a period of time most of the utillities got cut off and we had to use a card meter for the electric. Needless to say I soon came to realise that Adrian was absolutly hopelss with money, preffering to spend it on his beloved computers (Commoder 64 & Spectrum ZX) and the games that went with them. It dident take me long to realise I had married a 21 year old child!
Gathering my witts and rubbing my eyes I sat up with heart pounding at this noise of someone trying to break into my house. I quietly got dressed and sat on the bed for a moment feeling scared and confused....the scratching tapping noise was coming from both the back and front doors, as I could make out so I decided my best course of action was to look out of the bedroom window to see what was going on! I stood on the window sill and opened the top window only to see two middle aged men who had my front door wide open...........
"Excuse me!!!! whats going on?!!" I had shouted from the window.
"are you Mrs Goulding or Miss Short?" came a reply from the shorter man...the other chap appeared to be removing my front door lock!!
"Errr Mrs Goulding" I replied, now genuinly scared....this looked very official....
"Could you come down and open the back door?" the short chap shouted up, shading his eyes from the sunlight with his hand...I needed no further communication and quickly hurried down stairs where I saw sillouettes of 3 men standing at my back door!
I was alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tentivly I turned the key with a shaking hand and opened the door, where all 3 men promptly barged past me into the kitchen. The short man held a clip board, and proceeded to evict me from my home!!!!!!!!!
The faces of these men began to dissolve into hideous images as tears filled my eyes, as I was told Adrian had fallen too far behind with morgage payments and letters had been sent which I had never seen, so I figured Adrian must have hidden them!
"But I have pets!!!!" I wailed "a dog and a Budgie!"
"Not our problam love, we are here to get you off these premises imiediatly"
I was given enough time to stuff some belongings into a plastic carrier bag and collect my dog, Sam, and my birdcage, and before I knew it I was standing helplessly on my own concreate drive as these guys changed all my locks and locked and secured what had been my home!!! I had stopped crying, I was just stunned, stairing blankly at what had been my back door.
"I can drop you somewhere near by if you like!" the short Baliff had asked
" I work at a local pub! you could take me there!" I had muttered...and the next thing I knew I was being driven to work, a pub in the town that had been called the Bees Knees but during the drive the Baliff actually sounded very remorseful as he realised I had no idea about the morgage arrears and said something about being sorry, and he was only doing his job! It dident help me much though as he dropped me at the back door of the pub where I settled the bircage on a table and tied Sam to a chair leg so he dident run off, and I hurried to the bar to order a trebble Scotch from a bemused collegue who asked what was wrong.
" I just got evicted and I had no idea about it...can you give me change for the phone please?"
I downed my Scotch which calmed my splintered nerves a little, and ordered another before making my way to the payphone.
There was a crumpled piece of paper in my purse with a phone number on it. It was the number for Adrians Bracknell training collage, and I got through to him almost immiediatly. It turned out the he KNEW we were going to be evicted and he had even ARRANGED to be away on this course becuase (as he put it) he dident want to upset me!!!!!! He admitted to hiding the letters from the Bradford and Bingley, again because he dident want to upset me!!!! but while I was listening to these admissions my insides were boiling like a volcano...and I was ready to explode!
"Our marriage is OVER!!" I told him quietly but realy I wanted to scream down the phone at what a total f*****g bastard he was! Goodness knows how my resolve held but I think the Scotch helped!....I carefully replaced the phone on the reciever and quietly retreated to the back of the pub with my pets, and my drink, and my brain running like some manic machine, about what to do next.
The days that followed were a blurr!!
I had to beg for beds in the houses of regulars at my pub!! I begged my boss but he said a flat no!!...and spent my days in between pub shifts sat on the ground in the carpark of the local leisure centre. The carpark gave me small solace, and made me feel hidden because the carpark was quiet on weekdays so I was just an annoymous little person sitting in the sunshine with her back to the swimming pool looking out at the grey carpark!...at least the weather had been kind to me during those lowest of the low days! But there came an evening where I realy did have nowhere to sleep and knocked on the door of one of my regulars to beg yet again for a bed.
"Not tonight! I have friends staying!" the woman had said......
I was alone.......
So taking the last of my cash I took a taxi and booked into the Jodrell Arms in near by Whaley Bridge where I stayed for the next few days with my Dad picking up the rest of the bill, and at least I had a good breakfast every morning...Dad had also kindly taken my dog to my old friend, Jeans house where she had agreed to look after him, and a colleague at the pub agreed to take my budgie! Well at least my pets had new home, but I was still homeless......
It had been one of my lunchtime shifts when a regular called Aiden offered me a room in his house for £25 a week!!! and for a small moment I thought my luck had changed so I moved into this small room and arranged with the bank a date where I could collect the rest of my things from my house like my tv and hifi and over a space of a few days I settled in but things were far from perfect. My landlord, Aiden lived with his girlfriend, Rosezena and they had terrible and violant rows which I had to listen to most nights...so most nights I spent drunk to drown out both my own pain and their noise! Now at the pub I had befriended a short blond girl called Liz who looked a little bit like a midget version of Cyndi Lauper, but she was a punk, and wore weird and outrageus clothes and make up, but she took me to may parties (some of them wild) and showed me a kind of life that I dident like! However I also befriended a young blind guy called Graham who was much nicer and kept me company!! By this time Adrian was home and staying with me at the bedsit (which I reluctantly allowed) and dispite everything with the eviction I slowly came round to giving our marriage another try...Untill one evening my life fell to pieces once more...
Me, Liz and her husband Dave and my friend Graham decided to spend an evening at a pub in nearby Hayfield, and we stayed for a lock in (Graham knew the land lord very well) Now at about 1.30am David had vanished and me and Graham were chatting and drinking in the lounge...Suddenly Graham had gone very quiet and I asked why?
"Something is wrong!" he said, quietly "Very wrong....go and find your Adrian!" ...Blind Graham realy did have an extra sense!!!
Shrugging my shoulders I slid off my seat and went to where I had last seen him, in the pool room...as I turned the corner I was greeted with the sight of Liz sat on Adrians knee and they were deeply trying to evict each others tonsils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I snapped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TWANG!!!!!!!!!!
Saying nothing I just picked up Adrians full pint and tipped it over their two heads...Adrian remined calm but Liz lept back and began shouting obsenities at me like a deranged fish-wife!! She challenged me to a fight!
"Awwww sit down you silly bitch!!" I told her and pushed her back onto a chair!
"What are you going to do about it!! you midget!! you know I would f*****g kill you!!!" I growled at her, and at the time I realy meant it!!!! I stormed outside, tears starting and made my way to the phone box and phoned my Mum who was staying with my dad at the time...in between tears I explained to a very sleepy mother what had happened, and then she said those immortal words.
"For Gods sake Vicky, come home love!"
I agreed, and the next day my dad arrived in his beige Allegro, and we loaded the car and did an "afternoon" Moonlight flit from my scummy bedsit in New Mills...there was nothing left for me there now!
From here on the rest of the story gets better but I wont drone on. I filed for divorce a month later and celebrated with Mum when my decree finale came through!! and spent the next 4 years working full time at the Postern Gate in Warrington........

With all this running through my head I finally got of the bus yesterday, at our scruffy bus station, where Mum was waiting with her shopping tolly.....
"Been waiting long?" I asked her brightly...she had no idea what demonic memories had just been ressurected........