A little game for you!!! (I got 3 wrong!!)

Watch (listen) to the clip below and see if you can name the theme tunes to those much loved shows from our past!!!

Answers below.........but dont look untill you have finished!! ;)





..................




.................










no cheating now...............




I can tell you looking.............................. *covers self up*


..................






1. Superstars
2. Citizen Smith
3. John Craven's Newsround
4. Cheggers Plays Pop
5. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
6. Just Good Friends
7. Call My Bluff
8. Bod
9. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole
10. Tales Of The Unexpected.
11. Mr Benn
12. Only When I Laugh
13. World In Action
14. The Good Life
15. Trumpton
16. Crossroads
17. Brushstrokes
18. The Mister Men
19. Bullseye
20. Magpie
21. Terry and June
22. The Wombles
23. Rising Damp
24. Auf Wiedersehn, Pet!
25. Blockbusters
26. Open All Hours
27. Picture Box
28. Play Your Cards Right
29. Allo Allo
30. It Ain't Half Hot Mum


Well??..............how many did you score??

Vix x

Just found this haunting piano version of ELO's "Twilight" and it sent shivvers down my back!

Quite simply one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard!

enjoy! x

Yours truely, outside the cottage.......nice piccy of the bins! LOL!



Derek first thing in the morning...he is none too happy about this!



Our delightful little cottage that was once part of an old tin mine....set deep in the dark, foreboding wood!



Sirius and Derek pose at the door!!! You can just make out Sirius paws!!



Sirius on the rug with his toys!!



Sirius guards the front door!!



Very quaint cast iron stove in our living room!



Our cottage kitchen!!



....and the bedroom!!



Huge quartz crystal I bought in Looe!



Beach at sunset in Looe!



......Derek signs the guest book, before we have to leave! booo hooo!!



Hop you enjoyed!! I certianly did, as did Derek and Sirius! x

LATEST NEWS!!!!!!!!! Dr Vix defeates deadly Daleks in Cornwall!!...aided by large shaggy dog!!



LOL!!
Just untill I get the proper piccies!



Before I begin, please keep an eye on this entry for piccies, as at the present time I can't find my phone cable to upload pictures from my phone!!


So watch this space!!

Derek and I always find it most benifical to take a pre-Christmas, short break some where and this year we chose an isloted 1 bedroom cottage that had once been an engine house for a nearby tin mine. Beautifully restored by the National Trust as you will see in the photos I shall upload soon. But kept mostly in a very cosy, traditional style!
Decending, rather steeply and bumpily in our car, and about a mile from the tiny local village, we followed a tiny track, almost hidden by dense woods, only to drive slowly and steadily for another mile, still decending into the heart of the wood. There is a warning sign saying this is your last chance to turn around, about half a mile from the cottage. It was quite forboding realy, spooky and silent apart from startled birds flapping out of our way, and the rush of a bubbling stream. As we continued on I started to wonder if the cottage actually existed at all, as we seemed to be decending so very deep into this steep sided valley. Sure enough we came to a small clearing and our home for the next 3 nights at "Engine Cottage"...a tiny and yet delightful, squat building painted white with a lovely old "stable door" split style front door. I adored it at first sight, and totaly forgot about just how isloated and deep within the woods we were.
Sirius took an immiedate delight to the stable doors!
He has an odd habbit of stading on his hind legs to look over things, and the stable doors, he found were a wonderful oulet for doing this!!
Now because of the position of this cottage there is absolutly no TV or mobile phone reception, which makes you feel a bit cut off...but what a wonderful way to get away from it all!!!! Although I did think this was not a good place to be for someone suffering from heart problams or who might have a stroke, because the chances of getting any help, quickly, were miniscule! Also walking in the area was quite hazardus as many disused mine shafts still lay dangerously open, so walking with care was the order of the day. At night it was absolutly pitch black, and when I looked out of the bedrrom window one evening, I could see nothing but blackness, and hear nothing apart from the russtling trees and the distant hooting of a lonely owl...hastily I scambled back into our 6 foot wide bed and snuggled up with Sirius and a warming glass of Port!
Our days out included, Tintagel, St Austel, Looe, Jamacia Inn, Bodmin moor, Lands End, and other various quaint villages with brightly painted houses often in gaudy colours! I somehow managed to get ripped off on our visit to Tintagel as in a posh looking gift shop my eye caught sight of a "lord of the rings" ring with elvish writing on it. How delightful? I thought and asked about the cost....I nearly has a hissy fit when the shop manager said £240 for the gold ring!!! "we have silver rings that are only £26!" he offered, which was a bit more in my price range so I began to try them on..."they are real silver arn't they?" I had asked as I could not make out the inside mark on the ring. "Oh yes!" he promised...the reason I asked was because I can not wear anything that is not silver or pure gold, otherwise I turn green!!!!!!!!! Anyway I compleatly belived him and bought the ring only to discover the next morning it had turned my finger so green Percy Thrower would have been envious!!!!!! I was simply furious!!! and Tintagel was too far a drive to go back and complain, so I have had to keep the bloomin thing, and may well sell it on ebay as being a "fake" silver ring!..........it wasn't all bad though as I had a mooch around the shops in Poole only to come upon a "rock shop!" For those of you that don't know I have had a life long love affair with collecting rocks, minerals and semi precious stones, and at this shop I found a glittering lump of pure quartz with perfectly formed transparent crystals!!! It was a snip at £45!! and came home with me!! Also at the amazing Jamacia inn Derek and I had a tasty lunch and later a look around this wonderful place that had once featured on "most haunted". At the back was a huge gift shop and Derek bought me a stunning Austrian crystal blue drop necklace, which more than made up for the ring fiasco....and it dident make my neck go green!!
Sadly and all too quickly, our short break came to an end, and yesterday morning we packed in relative silence as both of us dident want to leave! The drive back seemed to last a million years (255 miles to be exact) but we stopped several times so Sirius could have a wee and water and we could have tea and sandwiches. We finally got back at 9pm, and were in bed, exhausted by 10pm!
On a sad note, this morning, Derek has been very ill and stayed in bed...I just hope he has not got this flu thing thats going about...?
At the moment, Sirius is keeping him company, but Mum is due to arrive for lunch shortly which will result in barks-ville from Sirius and will wake Derek up! Goodness I hope not.......we have a meeting with our builders next week and I need Derek to be well!

*puts on Nurses uniform*

I can now be followed on Twitter: twitter.com/VictoriaHS




see you soon good people! x

...And we have just this very second booked the finest seats for next year!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sooooooo excited!!!

Only a few weeks ago, and after hearing good reports about the show, I decided to get the WOTW on ebay on DVD and it absolutly blew my socks off!!! It was wonderfull, and if you have not seen it yet, please get the dvd as you will certainly not be dissapointed!! Almost all the original cast and musicians were performing, and it was wonderfull to see the now in his 70's Herbie Flowers (of Sky fame) doing his stuff brilliantly on the bass!! In fact all in all there are nearly 70 musicians on stage at any given time, and even though its live, the music is amazingly close to the original album version. There is even a 30 foot fighting machine, firing its heat ray at the audience (its a red laser!!) and ultimatly the man himself, Jeff Wayne is conducting!!
For the show next year there are some actor changes: for the Artillary man which will now be taken by Jason Donovan and a young lady from Atomic Kitten is to play Beth, the parsons wife! I dont know what happened to Julie Covington, but I do know the brilliant Phill Lynott sadly died in the 80's.
The tickets (probabally the best in the house!!) were very pricey at £70 each, but if you think how much it costs to stage this show, it does seem well worth the money!!!
Crikey........... I am already planning what to wear!!!!!!!!!!

We are off to Cornwall shortly for a short break before Christmas, and I am realy excited about it as, despite the fact I have done a huge ammount of traveling I have NEVER visited Cornwall before!!!
A thumnail of my cottage here....sorry its so small but I will take lots of piccies while I am there and post them here when we return!

Quite often we will have a winter break but this is a total departure form our usual lighthouse holiday in Sunderland...But its my love of Troika pottery (this is where it came from) that has lead us to decided on Cornwall this year. I am not sure if there is still a troika museum at Newylen, as there is not much info online. But I hope to find some info while we are there! Also we are having our home totally refurbished so all our furniture is in storage at the moment (starts monday) so its a great time to get away!! Well its about time as we have not had new carpets or even decroated since we moved in almost 10 years ago, so we are having it done all at once!
...and I get to visit the medieval home of KING ARTHUR at Tintagel!!!!

Frodo Baggins by ~mrssiriusblack on deviantART

....need I say more????

*warning: audio on this does contain strong language!*

On the 25th of June this year, the world lost a genius....

Although I was never an obsessive Michael Jackson fan, I did adore his music, and apprieciate his gentle, sensitive soul, so often put down by the press simply because of his eccentric ways. However, it dosen't surprize me in the slightest that he died in the way he did, because I can remember reading about his addiction to painkillers back as early as 1982. In fact when his untimely death was announced shivvers went down my spine as I read one of the drugs that killed him was Lorezepam, which I myself was prescribed back in 2003 when I had my nervous breakdown! Its an extreamly powerful sedative, and literally knocks your legs from under you, and lets just say I coulden't wait to get out of hospital and off them horrid things, and feel myself again! Oddly enough I am the same star sign as him...Virgo!
But lets just remember his genius.
....and like all genius in arts and sciences, somtimes bordered on madness!
Michael never had a childhood so he made up for this in his "adult" life by staying a child, even though he was a man...I feel as if I grew up with him in a weird way (there is only 8 years difference in age!!!) and my childhood Saturday mornings would be filled with the wonderful Jackson 5 cartoon, through to my teenage years of constantly playing his Off the Wall and Thriller albums, and posters of him on my wall, which I would look at and think what a beautiful man he was. Even when his face changed he was still beautiful, and continued to make wonderfull music, and fill his destiny as the King of Pop and the greatest showman who ever lived!!! and his music will live on forever as will his memory! He leaves us all his special legacy...

Michaels last perfomance in rehearsal just two days before he died.
May his gentle sweet soul rest with the angels! x God bless x

Yes!!!....just like it says on the tin!
We had our "one day holiday" of the year, yesterday!!

Earlier on in the year we had decided to go camping too save money, but the weather put the dampeners on that, if you pardon the pun!! Derek had the last two weeks of July booked off for it but it just rained and rained and rained....Now dont get me wrong, I love camping. But camping in the wet is absolutly horrible as no matter how hard you try, everything seems to get damp, and if this happens 9 times out of 10 I will have a nasty cold, which is what happened last year. Plus the fact the credit crsis has put a stop to our more exotic globe trotting, so camping seems now to be our only option. I wanted to go to South Africa, and do a tour on the "blue train", but lack of funds has made this impossible, but I still live in hope. Plus, Derek is being made redundent in November from his finantial job, so we will have to tighten our belts further. So as the weather was "supposed" to be nice on bank holiday monday (yesterday) we took our chances and packed our medium sized tent, and drove up to the Cotswolds to camp for the night! It was a campsite that Derek had found on the net, and it was "tents only" which was lovely!!!! There is some degree of rivalry between campers and caravaners, and its not nice, so we tend to stick to tent only sites!
A short story for you about that rivalry.
Way back in '94 Derek and I were on a grouling trek in Derbyshire, training for the Everest trek early in '95! One night we came upon a a lovely pub in a village called Roseley with a camp site where there was a couple of tents and two caravans. We found a suitable spot and I began to set up our small tent while Derek went into the pub to ask about pitching and a price for one night. To cut a long story short I was setting up the tent when I noticed an elderly lady glowering at me from a near by caravan. Next she appeared at her door and shouted "You can't pitch that thing there! its not allowed!!"
How rude!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking....and simply ignored her....the next thing I knew she came striding across the site, waving her fists and yelling. "I am going to tell the Landlord about this violation!"
Violation???
Its a small, bloody tent, not the Brixton riots!!!!!!!
I sat, befuddled, on my backpack, as I watched, the fat, bright red faced elderly woman vanish into the pub. I lit a ciggie and sure enough a few moments later a man appeared with her across the site, and he came striding twards me, and my heap of un-pitched tent.
"This part of the field is caravans only!" and "your can camp over there!" and he pointed to a spot near a noisy road side. I shrugged and expalined that I wanted to wait for my husband to come back and then we would move. But down inside I was furious!!!!!!!!!!!! What made it worse was the woman was back in her scummy van, grinning from her window. Eventually Derek came back and we moved but he was furious too and said if we had not hiked for 12 miles and been exhausted, we would have took our custom to another camp altogether! There is rather alot of snobbish, elitism in camping, and there realy is no need for it!
Ok, Back to yesterday, well Sunday night to be exact...we arrived at the camp at avout 5pm and it took us about 15 mins to set up the tent, and then another hours drive to a local town where Derek bought some beers, we came back and played ball with an inexhustable Sirius, and eveantually had an early night at about 9pm. This was where the fun started!!! And NO not that kind of fun. Sirius started to be a pain in the bum, whinning for no reason, untill he woke both me and Derek and Derek took him out to do his buisness. then at 5am he started again only this time Derek dident have him on his lead, and when they got back to the tent some time later with Derek puffing and panting, saying that Sirius had ran off down a dirt track and tried to get into someones garden before he got him back!!. Derek even carried Sirius back to the tent!!! Sirius weights about 30kg!!!
So a fun time was had by all, and I was glad I was back in my own bed last night!!
Very glad!! LOL!!

I'm truly disappinted in the way Caster has been subjected to such abuse by the media. Questioning her gender on the grounds of good sportsmanship is one thing, but to nationalise the embarrassment and humiliation is totally unacceptable. Once it has been proven that she is a indeed a female, i think she deserves a public apololy and the IAAF should compensate her for the unnecessary slander and defarmation that she has been subjected to. Please let us not forget that She has just won a gold medal at international level, at the age of 18!
Ok so she looks a bit "butch" but most women athletes are! But its discracefull that the press and world media have treated her this way! This whole "gender testing" thing should have been kept very private, and certainly, should not have been made public. Forgoodness sake has no-one in the world thought of this young lady's feelings? She may indeed , have a hormone problam. And goodness knows I have had my fair share of hormone problams, like during my monthly I get a beard!!!!! unless I keep it in check. Also I get terrible PMT which manifest's its ugly head in the form of binge drinking! I dont get angry and throw things around, I just get pissed and fall asleep. Usually it stops when my pierod stops, but I am hopeless to control it, and this is all down to my having Polycystic overies! Probabaly the same reason I can't have kids. One bad one early on this year I went to the Doctor to see if she could suggest something to help me, and she advised "Agnus Castus" which is a herb that can help with hormonal mood swings, and it seems to be working a treat, and its not even expensive! But this is all due to my hormones being all over the place so I can well sympathises with Caster if she has a hormone problam.
We should not forget that Miss Semenya has just won gold in a major international event, and she is an athlete of supreem standard!!

*drowns self in own swimming pool*

OMG!! this is such a shame!!!!!! What the heck are ShowTime up too ending at season 4!

The Tudors has been fantastic!!!!
But I feel ShowTime are cutting their own heads off by ending at season 4! Its such a shame! Edward, Jane, Elizabeth, and Mary painted such a rich tapestry between them, and they were all TUDORS TOO!! What about Edwards untimely death? and him leaving his throne to 16 years old Jane Grey because he wanted to keep His Kingdom protestant? What about Mary who had poor Jane beheaded? Mary’s persecution of all prodestants and even throwing her own sister Elizabeth in the Tower? Mary’s phantom pregnancy which turned out to be cancer that killed her? What about Cathrine Parr and Thomas Seymore? Seymore tried to seduce the young Elizabeth, even at one point cutting her gown to shredds, and Cathrine Parr’s own death on the child bed? Elizabeth finally on the throne, and her heartbreaking romance with Robert Dudley, and her refusal to marry anyone because of the horrors she had seen as a child! Please give us our Virgin Queen, Showtime!!!!!!!!!!

The Tudors simply dose not end with the death of Henry, its so silly!! I am heartbroken!!

The first part was written by a fellow blogger and is NOT my work*******

a lassi is a tradtional indian yoghurt based drink, the main constituent of which is indian ‘curd’, which the rest of the world knows as ‘runny yoghurt’.

variants include-

plain lassi (runny yoghurt plaus nothing)
sweet lassi (runny yoghurt plus sugar)
salt lassi (runny yoghurt plus salt)
banana lassi (predictable)
mango lassi (i think you’ve already guessed).

‘bhang’ means grass. in hindustani culture they’ve been smoking dope since they invented it. in the himalayan vallies of kashmir and himachel pradesh especially, enormous swathes of closely packed annabiis plants grow as god intended, up to 7 or 8 feet in height. obviously just picking the leaves and smoking them is shite, so they invented charas. the traditonal method for collecting charas was to send a clean, naked boy running through the fields for an afternoon, and then rub the sticky resin off his smooth skin. nowadays, now that they have the internet for entertainment, people just rub the leaves with their hands. colllecting in this manner will harvest around six grammes a day.

however, smoking this charas is illegal to all except the holy men (or sadhus) under hindu religious law. your average indian local would think nothing of making a bit for the travelling ascete, who after all needs to be on a level with shiva, but would never dream of smoking it himself- alcohol and drugs carry the same sort of social stiugma in a small traditional indian community as knocking back anti-freeze or sniffing glue does in a pleasant surrey suburb. to bridge this social paradox, the govt. of india runs its own chains of shops in hoply cities to supply holy men with their wares, (opium and grass), to save the locals from the moral problem of supplying it themselves- sort of like ‘halfords’ does for teenagers.

however, when it comes to the fresh, wet, mushy, absolutely unsmokable, totally impotent leaves of a cannabis plant- well they’re fair game as far as the locals are concerned. anyone who’s ever tried smoking the regular leaves off an outdoor naturally grown unselected plant will attest to the fact that all you’ll get off them is a nasty cough. but what the cunning indian has learnt to do is stick a heroic dose, 10- 20 grams wet weight of the otherwise useless vegetable matter, in a blender with half a pint of yoghurt and a few spoons of sugar. and then drink it.

that, my dear, is a bhang lassi.

first time i ever had a bhang lassi i was in the (then) holy coastal town of gokarna in the state of karnataka- mother to three of the most beautiful unspoilt beaches on the konkan coast (not any more i’m afraid), surrounded by luscious and beautiful examples of nature’s work. the advice of my friends of the time was simple- if you’re going to take psychedelics, you’re better to do it in the morning and make a day of it in the beautufl environment.

keepng this in mind i headed down to the beach at 8am and had a bhang lassi for breakfast. 40 rupees, or about a dollar (twice the price of a regualr lassi). i thought it a clever strategic move to drop it down on an empty stomach, and had banana added to try and disguise the green taste of the thing. and then i sort of sat and waited.

when i suddenly noticed i had no idea how long i’d been there, i thought it best to pay the bill. when i found myself trying to pay the bill for the third time, i though it best to leave. when i found myself leaving, i also suddenly found myself unalbe to see properly. feeling myself quite out of my depth before lunch, i opted to try and get back to the safety and obscurity of the hotel, though in hindsight i’d have probably done better just to sit where i was.

there was only one respectable hotel in gokarna, the imaginatinvely named ‘hotel gokarna’ (500 rupess or so for a double with hot water and attached bathroom and balcony. very clean. claimed a few stars, but i think that might have been pushing it.). and there is only one street in gokarna, which was not very long, though in my defence it did turn left at the end. taking this information into account it should have probably taken less than an hour to find the place.

once located ‘hotel gokarna’ was not the easiest hotel to navigate, with a series of mezzanines, half floors and intermediarry staircases interlocking on two sides to form a sort of open courtyard around the main foyer. after the bhang lassi however, naviagation became nothing short of absolutely impossible. indeed, i couldn’t for the life of me find the room, and kept seeming to arrive back at reception. in the end i thought it best to ask the now interested management if they knew where my room was. my question was a simple one, and predicatalby drew an even simpler one from them. ‘which number is your room sir.’ it was now that is discovered that somewhere between the ‘bhang’ and the ‘lassi’, i had misplaced my room number.

‘318? no, 238? no, 183…?’ and so it went on. i explained that i was staying with a group of six acquaintences, a small group of drug dealers calling themselves ‘dj s’ and we had checked into two or three rooms on different floors late the night before. this didn’t seem to help the clueless management, who in turn, obviously not having tried a bhang lassi themselves before, demanded what my friend’s names might be, and found it ridiculous that i found the disclosure of this information outside of my powers.

disgusted by the inefficiency of the management to assist me in the simple task i had requested of them, i once more took matters into my own hands, relieving myself of their inadequate company i simply went round the hotel knocking on likely candidate doors, saying ‘sorry’ when the occupier answered- after a few rounds the occupier was without exception a mildly confused middle aged pot-bellied indian wrapped in a towel,

they say all roads lead to rome, but again i arrived back at reception, where the manager and his assistant, having consulted themselves, and having no recollection that i’d even signed in, also decided to take matters into their own hands and eject me from the premises. thankfully at that moment my friends, whom i was also starting to doubt ever existed, happened to be stepping through the door returning from breakfast. they knew their own names and everything, and had the keys in their pockets which was a great relief. without even a sniff of a fuss they informed the management of the terrible mistake, took me into their safe custody and escorted me to the room that i had been alloted to.

back in the room i was shown to a makeshift bed on the balcony and possibly undressed by the lovely lucy. for the next couple of hours she kindly gave me a number of reasons to help me remember her name into the future. when i came to take a shower to cool off, i discovered god had dealt me yet another heinous blow- no electricity- and the bathroom had no windows. being a resourceful chap, i found a candle and set it on the sink. my shower finished, i returned to the lucy on the mattrass on the balcony, and collapsed in a psychic whirl of dream-like not-sleep.

when i came to my senses in the late afternoon i was aware of a strange odour eminating from the bathroom. ‘not the usual nag champa’ i thought. the electricity was back on, but i soon wished it wasn’t. the candle had set fire to the plastic framed mirror, which in turn had charred the wall black to the ceiling. the floor was decorated with the smashed mirror, silvered shards of broken glass scattered hither and thither. the frame itself had part melted into the sink, whilst the candle had fallen onto the toilet seat, still lit, and made a brown ugly mess of it.

i think the seven years is up in about three weeks, or at least i hope it is.

(above work copied from an unknown blogger**)

**********************************************************************************************************************

...and this realy took me back to the time when Derek and I were in India's holy city, Varanasi, backpacking.

One evening, just before a glowing sunset, we were both sat on the roof top restraunt of our hotel for a "Lassi" before dinner out at a smart restraunt across town. Now normal Lassi is just a cooling, gorgeous yogurt drink, fruit or salt flavored (Mango lassi is my favortie!) and needless to say totally harmless. What Derek ordered off the waiter was somthing totally alien to me, and called a Bhang or special lassi...this is the drink most favored by the Hindu God Shiva, and so is mostly drank at festivals.
"whats that then?" i asked him now more than a little bemused.
"Its a special Lassi that the locals drink so I thought I would try it!" Derek replied simply.
I shrugged my shoulders and ordered my Mango lassi, and got my nose stuck back in my Lonley Planet travel guide.
About 10 minuites later the waiter arrived back with our drinks, and Dereks lassi was GREEN!!!
It look absolutly ghastly, and was slightly frothy on top. It looked like it was somthing Dr Jekle would drink!! I eyed the thing with suspicion, half expecting a hidieous alien to leep out....and Derek was even grinning when he began to drink it. I felt my nose wrinkle up, in discust.
What followed was just as disturbing....
Slightly later we ordered a rickshaw form out side our hotel, to take us to the restraunt for our evening meal...and Derek mentioned quietly to me that he felt a "little woozy!" Derek had tried to pronounce the name of the restraunt and found that he couldent, so realy our driver had no idea where he was going. I tried to help in my awfull Hindi, but this only confused the driver more, so I showed him a map from my travel guide, he nodded and off we set.
Not long into our tinkling bell journey, my mild mannered, alcohol avoiding, University educated, Derek had turned into some one I dident recognise!! Derek suddenly started acting like he had, had 20 vodka's!
" ITS THAT WAY!!!!.....NO!! THE OTHER WAY...DOWN THIS STREET HERE!!" He began yelling at our poor, totally confused rickshaw driver.
"ok? ok?!" the driver asked and I just simply said. "He's had a bhang lassi, whatever they are" Presently the driver's shoulders began to shake almost uncontrolably and I soon realised he was in fits of hysterical laughter. Indignently, I sat back into my seat, telling Derek to shut up in the process!
What had been in that drink?? I questioned myself.
It was only by the powers of God that we eventually arrived at the restraunt!
We took a table for two and I ordered a Scotch and coke, and eyed the menu hungrily. The tradational Tandori Chicken sounded like a jolly good option when suddenly I heard Derek say quietly that he felt dreadfull. I looked up from the menu and eyed him, closley. His face was GREEN!!! and his eyes looked all boggly, and bulging!! I knew I had to get him back to our hotel as soon as possible, but I was sooooo hungry! Needless to say I got him back in a regular taxi, for swiftness, and my moaning and growning, partner in travel to bed and waited untill he slept. He nodded of just after 10:30pm. Leaving our room, I made my way back to the roof top restraunt, ordered a fanta (alcoholic drinks are not always available in Varanasi as it is a very holy city) to wash down a simple cheese omlette. After I had eaten and while paying I asked the waiter what a Bhang lassi was. The waiter grinned and tapped his nose "local secret ingrediant...is hashi"
I was totally horrified!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Derek was ill because he drank a glass of cannabis!!!!!!!! Silly sod!!!

Sorry folks for the long break on my blog but I thought I would have a break for the internet for a while...and I have had lots of computer problams over the summer months, so much so I could have not got onto the internet if I had tried. One of my worst hassles was my DC adaptor whent to Electronics heaven (it died, with a loud pop!!!) and I had to get a new one to the tune of £75!!...so apart from the horrid wet weather, I have not been a happy bunny over the summer.
Ok, on we go....
I have just joined Twitter, the social networking site, mainly out of cuirosity realy, just to see what all the fuss was all about! Its fairly easy to navigate and seems much simpler than facebook and myspace. Acctually myspace just seems to be full of bands at the moment, and I never get a "genuine" friend request anymore, so I have not used it recently. Hence I thought I would try somthing new!

So if your on there, give me a knock! I am on under my married name of Victoria Harrison.

See you soon x

My lovely 8 foot pool ended up on the patio afterall!!!

I was mulling it over for a day or so and got out the tape mesure to see if the pool would acctualy fit on the patio...and low and behold my patio measures exactly 9 foot from my patio doors to the start of my garden!! So one morning before it got too hot I lifted my empty pool (even empty it weighs a ton) and got it on the patio where I had placed two old picnic blankets for it too sit on. Its actually under the kitchen window so I could even top it up with warm water if it gets too cold, via my short hose which I use for my fishtank. The pool takes about 3 hours to fill though (about 650 gallons) and its still a bit wonky because I hadent straightened it out properly but now at least I have a swimming pool that is absolutly gorgeous and a wonderfull way of cooling down when its megga hot. At night I cover it with a large tarp and double cover the filtre unit as its electricle, and I have no desire to get electricuted by my own pool filtre...Anyway Derek is so impressed with it, he is coming home from work, usually about 4pm, stripping down to his shorts and getting straight in the pool. Yesterday evening he was in there for about an hour and I had to call him 3 times to say his dinner was ready!!! Even more surprizing was he mentioned having a "proper" dug in pool in the garden!! I nearly fell off my chair when he said this last night!!! Now although my garden is big enough for a good sized swimming pool, it would cost about £15,000 to build, and proper swimming pools need a lot of looking after, and maintainence which = hard work!!! So Last night we chatted about it over an icey cold bottle of wine and came to the conclusion a good sized "hot tub" would be a more practicle idea and we could use it all year round!! So on Sunday we are off to the Waeyvale garden centre where they sell, and install them, to price them up and genrally see whats on offer. ok we wont be able to swim in a hot tub but we can enjoy it in the evening with a cold or indeed a hot drink!!! Anyway, I will let you know what happens.
Now for my busness propersition, which came out of the blue, from a lovely chap called Brian who has a small shop which sells novalties, as well as Masonic supplies...a while back on ebay I sold him one of my Masonic tea light holders, stained glass variaty. He was so impressed he emailed me explaining his shop and he has comissioned a set of these holders I make for sale in his shop, we just need to agree a price. I had to explain the cost of the paints as well as the fact each holder takes about 4 days just to make one, and also I have to make one for my own lodge for my Fellow Craft. So we have agreed Christmas time as he thinks they will sell better then. Well at least this gives me 5 months!!!...which reminds me. I have to email him as I have not been on the internet during the heatwave, because my laptop gets hot, making me even hotter, and I have been messing with my pool...weel slobbing about in it realy!! LOL!!

Stay cool people!! x

...if its not one thing its another....

Since Sirius put a rather sharp claw through my old one, and I was unable to repair it, I decided to get a new "inTex" one, that a bit posh and huge!! But I have discovered a BIG problam....my back garden, although perfect and private for a pool, slopes, and it slopes badly. On reading the instructions for the new pool I found out the ground had to be perfectly flat in order for it to fill properly....
Argggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!
The design of the new pool is a rather new trendy one, where you just inflate a ring at the top and the rest of the pool just fills like a bag, underneath, which is why the ground has to be perfectly flat, other wise I will propabally end up very wet, with an upside down pool!!! My garden dosen't slope too badly but there is about a 2 foot difference from my patio (lowest point) to the back of the garden, which is more than enough difference to make hassles for my new pool. I thought about putting it on the patio but its not wide enough, and a woulden't fancy the prospect of putting it on flagging anyway, even with a tarp underneath.
What a moaning old cow I am!!! LOL!!

In other news...as I have not heard from paypal or my lovely little scammer in NY, I am writing to the Ombudsman tomorrow to complain, as well as BBC's Watchdog as its about time someone spoke up about paypal and its buyer preffered policies, as some people have lost thousands in scams like mine, its just that folks are scared to speak up, and I think its about time too. I have already warned ebay I am complaining to the Ombudsman but have recieved no reply, so I am going ahead with it...might seem extream for just £100, but this is a scam and needs to be reported, whatever the ammount. I have also got a complaint form from the Post Office today too...I am not going to let this go, unless the buyer can somehow PROVE he did not recieve the dolls...crikey....and its only Monday!!

Looking forward to iced pink port tonight! ;-))

This morning my ear was more blocked than ever and its driving me bonkers!!!
Apart from the pain in my cheek and neck, my ballance is all over the place, and I am walking like I have been guzzling vodka!!! (not for a long time now) so I took the plunge and phoned my Doctor only to be told I could not get an appointment next week!!!...The receptionist put me on hold for a moment and then came back to say "would you like a call from the duty Doctor?" to which I answered "yes!!!" just get rid of this bloomin' ear thingy!! about half an hour later I get a call..."if you can get hear in 15 mins I will see you now!!"
What do they think I have got?? a bloomin' Tardis??
So "Battlestations" ensued. I called a Taxi and then went into a mad panic when I coulden't find my house keys!! (left in the car at the weekend) so I had to quickly call mum to see if she could pop down and let me back in on my return, which bless her, she did. As it was I managed to get to the Doctors in time but still had to wait 45 mins to be seen. When I eventually went in she was lovely and gave my ears a jolly good look at. Firstly she checked my "good ear" and announced I had a temprecher, then checked my dodgey ear, with much pain on my part. At first she said she was going to syringe my ear, but following a further exanination she said it was very likley I have an infection as I am in pain too, and lots of it. So she has given me Amoxillin (antibiotic) and asked me to come back on friday morning. I thanked the Doctor for seeing me so soon, collected my prescription and wobbled over to Morrisons for a bottle of water to take my first tablet, at the bus stop. I am just so desperate for it to clear up!!
So I have a nasty ear Goblin...goodness knows how I picked it up, but I just wish it would go away.

Hope no-one else out there gets one....its horrible, and I feel dreadfully ill.....

Woulden't it be lovely to blow up the swimming pool and relax in the garden in the sunshine with the umbrella up as shade for Sirius and his bowl of water, and a icey cool can of cream-soda for me???

*sighs* I wish..

No...its cooking day!!
I have to make a massive bowl of chilli, and a huge cauliflower cheese!! which I shall be starting very shortly.
The cauliflower cheese is easy enough...boil cauli, cover in cheese sauce and top with grated cheese and bang in a megga hot oven for 25 mins...but the chilli takes longer, and if I am not carefull I end up with red hot fingers, that I have to rinse for ages to get the chilli juice off!!! I am not a chilli snob but I never use chilli powder...only the real thing will do. I try to use a nice mixture of tiny megga hot "birdeye" chilli's and the larger milder variaty, for a nice smooth heat. Also once made it will keep for up to a week or more, so cooking day is worth it realy. It freezes nicely too, so if I make too much, it goes into portions, cartons and ends up in the freezer.
Chilli in Summer I hear you ask??
Well its not just somthing you stick with rice you know!!
Chilli and green salad, jacket potato, galic bread dip, and all kinds of other things...Infact the ammount of boiled rice I consumed during my travels around Asia, I actually hate the stuff now and rarely eat it, so my personal fav is with a jacket and a small salad.

In other news, I have totaly finished with ebay and paypal!!
They have ripped me off for £100 with no explanation, and no answer to my emails, and the dozens of phone calls I have made I have just been fobbed off and passed from department to department only to be told I will not get my money back!!! So a warning to all paypal will not honour a return chargeback even if you have a recipt of postage. and ebay are totally useless and unhelpfull...well they have been to me, anyway.
Oh and I still have a blocked ear....Grrrrrrrrr!!!!
I am reluctent to waste the Doctors time, but a trip there looks like a must........

Ok....on with the chilii....*puts on apron*

x

About 3 years ago I developed a nasty ear infection during a stay at my mum's, when she was living in St Helens, and I ended up on antibiotics and ear drops from my Doctor....now it seems I have picked up another nasty one!!...only this one is realy evil!! Its making the whole of the side of my face ache, is affecting my ballance, and Derek says when he puts ear drops in (standard Morrisons variety) all this horrid yellow gunk bubbles out!! Scarey stuff!!! Anyway if it doesn't clear up over the weekend, I shall be off to see the Doctor methinks! I think I am falling to bits realy as when I was at specksavers recently they noticed the "lazy" pupil in my left eye. A lazy pupil just means it stays at one size instead of opening and closing in bright light like a normal pupil...its so bad the optitician coulden't get a proper photo of my retina. I asked her about it and guess what??
"Oh you will have to see your Doctor about that!"
Why on earth should I see my Doctor about my eye when its an optitions job??...a bit of "passing the buck" I suspect...but I suspect it might need to be operated on. It dosen't realy affect my sight (which is awfull without my glasses) but close up it just makes me look a bit "evil" as one eye is a different shape to the other....eemmmm wonders if Frankenstien needs an assistant perhaps!!
In other news I seem too have a problam with my fishtank at the moment!
For days now the water has turned a horrid murkey green, dispite 3 50% water changes so yesterday evening Derek and took a mad dash to Pets at home for a whole new filtre set, and did yet another water change, but to no avail...the water is still green this morning and my poor fish look well depressed, so I can feel some water testing coming on...and perhaps another water change.....
Looks like I am in for a fun day!!!!!!!........NOT!!

BACK soon x x

Following the literal tons of recent hassle I have had with ebay, I phoned some customer service boy yesterday and "railroaded" him about the missing money from my account....this morning I find that half of it has returned and I am happy with that, but their answer to my "giving this little schoolboy" a piece of my mind they have decided to give me a warning strike. I can't be bothered with them again I am afraid...Their fees are far to high, their policies are all to-cock, and their feedback system is compleatly unfair...So Richard, you were right afterall...I have gone over to Amazon and listed my "Davros collection over there!!!
I have FINISHED WITH EBAY!!!
So I guess now I shall be going through all my videos!!! LOL....BOOKS, CD's to see if I can make some pocket money!
Anyway a kind gentleman has asked me if I will do some "job lot" stained glass work for him, but we still have to negociate a price. I am just waiting back for him now....I can do the work but I had to explain that my art takes ages to dry, so each piece wont be ready for a week....
Belive me...paint drying is the least of my worries at the moment.........

They say problams come in 3....well the first two I wont even go into because I would be waffling on and on and on.....ect. But firstly my computer complealy crashed, and I was dashing around town "welll limping realy" trying to get someone to fix it (where is Jim when you need him!!!!) and that cost a bomb...my new dc adapter has been making noises like the London symphony Orchestra...and now I have compleatly lost my email. I tried setting up a different account, but even that dosent work either!!
*not a happy bunny*
Hence I have about 15 ebay buyers baying for my blood and will no dought end up having my account suspended...but what can you do without emaill?? I use it so often its like the usual part of my day....but I think my darling little laptop is coming to the end of its winter...AND be warned...if I vanish that will be the case...what did we do before computers?
So basically if you have tried to get it touch with me via vixtravels too, dont, as I cant acces it at the moment. I am going to call windows support in desparation, tomorrow, to see if they will help. But I have done this before and the lady I spoke too I could not understand her.
We shall see!

I can be contacted on FACEBOOK http://www.facebook.com/album.php?success=1&aid=-3&id=717306617&saved#/profile.php?id=717306617&ref=profile....or just search "Vicky Short"...I dont bite, so just drop me a simple PM (Personal Message)

Sorry folks but my tech problams are becomeing like a disater at Windows HQ!!!

hope to hear from someone soon!!

....but its in need of a few watertight repairs this year!!

Any one who runs a pub will know just how hard it is to get a night off, but this is the story of how I met Derek and our rather odd engament!!
Back in October 1993 I was running a pub called the Rifle Butt, with a gay friend (the pub has now changed its name to the Heat of Duston) and I managed to wrangle a night off from my 70 hour a week job...it was a chilly Thursday evening as I remember, waiting at the bus stop for the bus to take on on the short ride to Duston village. At one point I looked up and saw two very bright shooting stars, one after the other, and they were quite beautiful, anyway the next thing I was on my way to and my favorite local, the Melbourn arms, for a busmans holiday of several pints of real ale, that was not my own!! LOL!! I am not realy sure why I liked the Melbourn as the landlord has a smile for no-one and was a huge "Hagrid" type of a man. For some reason the place always smeeled of a mixture of gents toilets and disinfectant, but after a couple of pints you seemed to get used to it!!
The place did have a lovely warm real fire which I sat at sipping my pint and reading, when suddenly one of my regulars called me over to the bar for a chat (infact I was just about to go home) His name was Brian, and such a very colourful character he is too. He could tell tales better than the Brothers Grimm, but it was pleasent to chat to someone...Then it happened...one of those classic "eyes across a crowded room moment" except it was me that was doing the eyeing, while the absolutly gorgeous guy I was looking at was not looking back at me, and happily chatting to his friend, laughing and enjoying his pint!!
"Oh my God!!!! He is gorgeous!!!" I suddenly said without thinking....Derek had a look about him not unlike the looney David Koresh who died in his church at Wacco, that same year. Derek had curly, auburn brown hair, silver rimmed glasses, and a ready smile! Now most ladies would not have given him a second glance I guess but I have always had this "thing" for guys with curly hair and glasses!! I have no idea why!. Any way Brian answered "Who?"...I had no option now as I had to tell him.
"The chap at the bar with the curly hair and glasses!"
Quite suddenly Brian burst into laughter, and for a moment I felt quite humilliated...."Thats my cousin, Derek, I will introduce you!"...."NO!!!!!!!" I squeeked like a scared mouse and dashed off to the ladies in a fit of embarracement! I dident realy want to go so I just sat for 5 mins and smoked a ciggie, and already I could feel myself blushing. After a short while I decided to beat a hasty retreat only to find my way blocked by Brian and the much talled Derek. I was shaking and I could feel my cheeks burning. But soon relaxed as we got talking and he was teeling me all about the traveling he had done. I was intriguied to hear about his 3 month cycle trip across Canada, and trips to Asia...and then he dropped a bomb shell and said he had plans for a two year trip around Asia next year.....GREAT!!!!!!!!!!! i WAS THINKING....I find the man of my dreams and he is an addicted traveller!!!....well the rest is history as you all know he took me with him...but our courtship was not without hassle. His Mum, Rosabella!!! A tiny red haired lady who was a very strict Catholic, and so was Derek!! Now I am a Methodist (not by choice I was just baptised a Methodist) and when she found out I suddenly became the Devil incarnate!!! She made it known too!! and ofcourse because I ran a bar, made me out to be a total tart!!! She hated me with a vengence!! So mine and Dereks realationship was a long one. While on holiday in Kerela, India, the poor lady died in hospital, and naturally Derek was heartbroken, and we flew home straight away. Not long after Derek asked me a very strange question....
"If I proposed to you, how would you like me to do it?"
I thought he was joking, but he was serious! ....errrr....was all I could manage for the moment and then I suddenly said "on a 747-400 on V1-Rotate take off"....actually I was joking!!
6 months passed and we were on our way back to Bali, Indoniesia, for a holiday, ironically on a Singapore airlines 747-400! but at the time I had forgot about the engagement question...we boarded, pushed back and taxied to the end of the runway, where the engines started to build power, before take off (if you have never been on a 747, take off can be quite unnearving realy) eventually we were rummbling down the runway....still on the ground gaining speed....and rummbling, gaining more speed, and it seems like an age when you reach V-1-Roate (Captains commit to fly) and feel a gentle bump as our giaint swan glided gently into the sky....
"Will you marry me!"
Derek said quietly, as he opened a ring box with a sparkling diamond and emerald (Irish) engagement ring!
"YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I squeeled and threw my arms around him as he tried to push the ring on my finger....by now word had got around the cabin that an Engagment had just been announced, and we got congratulated by what seemed all our fellow passengers. The cabin crew presented us with a bottle of Champagne and real glasses (would not be allowed today) and suddenly the Captain announced it over the tannoy!!!!
"I would like to announce the engagement between passengers, Derek Harrison and Victoria Short, and offer congratulations from all our crew"..........
At this point I bolted down the isle to the toilets locked myself in and cried like a baby!!!!! With happiness, as I had never been so happy in all my life!!
By the time I composed myself my eyes were all red and puffy, but I left the toilet only to find a small selection of passengers and crew by our seats with yet more congratulations!!! Needless to say I began crying again...silly mare!!

A Singapore Airlines 747-400 on take off!!



Now....in other news!!!
My last Lodge meeting was brilliant, and very unusual. Because several Masters were off with cold and other things I was very honoured and privlegded to be asked to take the roll of the Inner Gaurd, and had to wear a beautiful collerette regaillia!! I also had to speak in Lodge for the first time as I had to make sure we were gurded. Normally entered apprentices like me are not allowed to speak in open lodge or vote. So this was a real honour for me, and some jolly good learning too!!!
Much to my delight I was also told I will be going onto my second "fellow craft" degree in October!! (quite quick for our Order) so I will be studying hard.

My ebay dealings are bad again!!! I sold a new pair of Peter storm hiking boots for 99p last night!! *cries* and yet I have made £50 on a set of dolls...weird eh!?
Oh and two days ago I lost one of my diamond stud earrings, and went beserk about it, but I have not found it...the day I lost it was the same day I was washing and preparing my swimming pool, drying it and making it ready for the summer...I had a break on my laptop and felt the lobe of my left ear only to find a butterfly attachment and no earring, blooming thing was real diamond too!!
Still....things are sent to try us, I suppose....

back soon
love Vix x

This morning I did a huge post on just how Derek and I had an unusual engagement....and the bloody thing has vanished for some reason!!!

GGGGGGGGGGGggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

It took me nearly 2 hours to write, and I priviewed and posted it...I even read it back though on my blog just after I have posted it, so I know it was definatly there.......also I am pretty pissed of that two of my entries have been marked as SPAM!!!!!!! First is the ballgown bus crash and wandering teeth and the other was Aliens growing in my chil room!!!

If this continues I am going to be haveing some not very nice words with "blogware!" because this is a blog I actually pay for so I am going to phone them ...and the gits who mark my posts as SPAM need to get a life!!!

I need a chill pill!!

Remember the other day that I as moaning that my hand-painted goblet that I painted myself was not going to sell on ebay....well it did....for the princely sum of 99p!!! But its not the cost....it was the feed back left by the lady who bought the godlet...

...and I quote!!!

******** exquisite handcarafted goblet. Well packed. speedy arrival. Thanks A+++*******

I sent her a special message thanking her for such a delightful comment!!

Its realy nice to know that there are people out there who apprieciate, rustic hand-painted glass art!!

*so happy dances around the living room*

I have a Masonic tea light holder listed but I dont honestly thing this will sell..........

We shall see...

love Vix

My ecclectic tastes in all kinds of music almost confuses me!!!

As a child my first love (if a 4 year old can fall in love, apart from Jon Pertwee!) was the aewsome Marc Bolan from T rex!!!(I have a thing for guys with curly hair and still have) I adored him!! his music, costumes and make up, and a true showman, which is rare to find...On holiday in Weston Super Mare in about 1972, I was sat with mum and dad in the hotel lounge, which had a juke box and on came T Rex playing "Metal Guru!"....well I jumped up and started dancing around the lounge in the style of Marc (much to my mum and dads embarracement I think) and I did not sit down untill the record ended, only to recieve a round of applause from the other hotel residents!!!!!!! About an hour later, the hotel manager came to our table and thanked me for entertaining his guests, and presented me with a Sindy Bathroom set!! (wish I still had it as the thing would be worth a fortune now on ebay!) and I was only 4 and a half...when he tradgically died I cried my eyes out but Mum told me that God liked Marc's music too and wanted him to play with the Angles!!
This consoled me a lot!!
Crikey I have just realised that I am realy showing my age here!!! *hides*
As a grew I became a real "trainee Rock Chick" and adored bands like Ranbow, Deep Purple, Saxon, Metallica, Whitesnake and countless others!! But my favorite by far was Rainbow!! Here is a clip of the awesome Ronnie James Dio (in my view Rainbows finest vocalist)....I even once named a Budgie "Dio" in his honour!!



Stargazer is my favorite Rainbow track, and I feel that some of the lyrics have Masonic undertones...its almost about building a Temple!!
Hope you enjoy!!

In other news my ebay sales have gone into the "Twilight zone!" This economic downturn is effecting ebay so badly hardly anyone is bidding on anything....In fact I have a Troika tall vase worth about £300 due to finish today, and I will be lucky to get £110 for it!!!!!!!!!!! I have no choice though, because of the Vienna trip!! I would love to see an opera while I am there (pref Mozart) and I will be gutted it I can't afford it!
I have taken up glass painting again in an effort to sell some on ebay (NOT) and my garage looks like a bomb site as I routing around for things to sell....I feel I am in Steptoe & Son mode at the moment!!! LOL!!!

SEE YOU SOON LOVELY PEOPLE! x x

Normally my days are spent quite peacefully: Checking my ebay sales, working on my stained glass, and walking Sirius! as well as the nornal house keeping duties....but just recently, about a month ago things have got rather hecktic here!!!
I am talking about brain work, rather than physical work, although there is a lot of that involved too. I am trying my very hardest to learn my Masonic Obligation off by heart before my next Lodge, and its a long piece of text, with many pieces in old styled English which makes it quite difficult to understand. Needless to say its going slowly, and I have only learned by heart about half of it so far...Also I can only do this when I am alone as I repeate it out loud, and no non Mason is allowed to hear it!!...I have even been learning it in the bath, whispered to myself, its like I am obsessed!!! LOL!!! Secondly I have to make money for my trip to Vienna (which is very difficult with the economy at the moment) and although I have made a little, its not nearly enough, as to what I need!! My Ebay sales are slower than a snail on acid!! and even if I do sell somthing, there is lots of last minuite bidding going on...At the moment I have listed a stained glass goblet that I paineted myself!!
its here!!!





Which took me about 4 days of hard work and the glass paints cost a fortune............and I have ONE WATCHER!!! is no one interested in hand painted art anymore??? or is my work just crap and I am kidding myself???? If it goes to the last day I may well remove it from the listing because I realy dont want to let it go for less than £15, becuase of all the hard work that I put into this 22cms high Goblet!!!
In other things I have had to part with some Troika which was heart breaking, and one of the vases I sold had a complaint about a hairline crack I had not noticed!!! So needless to say I have now had to get a new pair of glasses too!!!! (should have gone to speck savers) costing over £220!!! Also the power pack on my lappy packed up and that meant another £50 layout, which I cannot aford but is nessisairy!!!...oh and I have ran out of tea candles!!! tut tut!!!!
Well today I have to hand wash some delicate clothing that I need for certain upcoming events, then get on the pole for half an hour, and walk Sirius AND drum into my brain the next section of my Obligation...its all go here at ther moment, chaps and chapesses!!

love vix x

No...this isent going to be some sad attempt at one my my silly sci-fi stories but this is the only way that I can describe what happened to me today!!

Firstly let me explain about my chill room...its not a cold room or anything, its just a place with a comfy Futon to "chill" and read a book or somthing as its nice and quiet. This room was actually my old office when I was a homeworking travel advisor, but I got sick and tired of answering my phone just to hear someone say "which part of India are you from?" This is the culture of call-centres!! At the time I was working for Teletext Holidays and most clients were convinced I was a call centre in India...now I can be a patient person but one day I got so annoyed I yelled down the phone "Do I bloody well sound Indian!!!!!!!" and slammed the phone down!! Needless to say I dident work for them for very long. Anyway with all my office equipment removed by the teletext people after I threw in the towel, my old office "regenerated" into my chill room, infact a 4th bedroom with futon to chill out and relax. Recently, however, I have been very busy and my chill room has degenerated into my laundry room which also includes my sewing machine and various craft project. Several days ago I knoticed a horrible smell in there and could not for the life of me figure out what it was. My laundry doesnt smell that bad, because I bath everynight! Well today I decided to give it a bit of a tidy up and was absolutly horrified when I moved a table from near a radiator under the window, only to find massive fronds (like alien fingers) growing about 8 inches high, buried in my carpet!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually jumped back with shock, as part of my brain was saying "fungas" and the other half was saying "alien hands growing out of my carpet!!!!! Holding my nose because of the smell, and calming my nerves I had a closer inspection and it turned out to be caused by a nasty leaking radiator!!....warm water was seeping from the radiator and onto my thick piled carpet and the fungas bugs must have thought "hay!!!! Party time!!!" and grew like wild fire into these weird and very spooky shapes. So not only do I have a leaking radiator, but I had to scrape up the horrid stuff with a knife onto a sheet of cardboard!
Later I phoned Derek and asked him to pop into Tesco for my white port and a huge bottle of disinfectant!!
"what do you want the disenfectant for?" he asked, stupidly
"Well I realy fancy a drop of disenfectant with my port tonight!!!" I replied in my most sarcastic voice!
I was quite annoyed at the time as I had to walk Sirius, make a spag bol for dinner, sort my washing, learn my obligation lines...while ballancing a tea tray on my head and singing "Do wah diddy!" (last bit just sarcastic realy)
Anyway we now have to get someone in to fix or replace the leaky radiator (more expence!!!) or I could end up with my very own muchroom farm!!

Good grief!!! what a day....I am REALY looking forward to that Port tonight!

Vix x

....make of the title what you will, but it realy has been a strange day!

Mum arrived at 11am and we had tea and I made her a sausage sandwich, and just over an hour later we were on our way to town. Mum has to go via town anyway to get back home, but I also wanted some stationary bits and pieces and another look at the evening gowns in TK Max. Saying goodbye to Mum just outside Sainsburys I made my way, firstly to W H Smiths for some things, and then onto Superdrug for some more things. It was raining, intermittently but I decided I would indeed take the quite lengthy walk down to Max's to check out the gowns again. I found a gorgeous white tuille, netted gown embroidered with glittering black beads, full length with two underskirts, one of which was stiffly netted, all for the princely sum of £50 (I would have payed double this in Debenhams!) and a realy gorgeous black satin evening bag by Suzie Smith!!....all sorted....or so I thought...
Everything seemed normal untill 10 miniuts into my bus ride home I noticed a red Clio car in the middle of a busy junction not far from town, wanting to turn right. I also noticed it was a learner!!..Now the lights on our side were on green and our bus was going at about 25 mph with nothing a head apart from the then distant car at the junction. The only thing was the car stayed at the junction, right in the middle of it, infact, and our bus driver had to slam on his breaks but it was too late!!!! With screaching tires we slammed into the little car with an expleative from me of "S**T!!!" and very briefly I had a flashback to our bus crash in the Chinese mountains, in a head on collision with a huge lorry. I still pray to God to this day, that I am still alive after that horrific incedent in 1995! Anyway I saw the poor girl get out in a fit of tears, and our bus pulled into the kerb so our driver and the young ladies instructor could swap insurance details. Also we had to wait for a replacement bus, which was about half an hour, and we all had to swap busses. Before this however, our driver, visabley shaken wandered up and down the bus asking if anyone wanted to volenteer as a witness. The bus had about 20 passengers and not one was prepared to volenteer, which I thought was quite discusting so I was the only passenger to volenteer as a witness to the crash. I hardly dought it will go to court though as no-one was injured, thankfully!
On getting home I was still quite shaken so I phoned Mum for a chat and told her about the days events, but after a cup of much welcome tea, I relaxed a little enough to try on my new evening gown. The dress fitted me perfectly, which I doughted as it is a very fitted size 14, but its like it was made for me, except its about two inches too long. Fortunatly though my Mum was and still is a fully qualified tailoress and seemsstress so taking my gown up an inch or two will be a piece of cake for her. At 5pm my phone rang and unexpectdly it was my Mum again....
"I have just had two of my front teeth fall out while I was eating" she lisped!!
I wanted to giggle, but she was realy upset becuase she said she looks awful now because the teeth were at the front! I just said not to worry, keep the teeth and go and see the dentist as soon as possible so he can make a mould for a couple of false ones. She did say one of the teeth had actually broken off, and if this is the case she will have to have the root extracted or it could get infected. Now I have had both a root extraction and a root canal filling and belive me both are not pleasent, but are over qucikly so I may have to go with her when she has the extraction done to make sure she is ok.
Its been a weird day folks...but my only problam now is what to cook for dinner tomorrow as Mum is coming and I dont want to cook somthing that is going to be to taxing on her teeth...something simple with dollops of mash, methinks!

h.g.w.
Vix x

I had an extra lay in this morning as Derek was watching the Grand Prix from 5am (looney!!!!) so I am only just starting the day with my ususaly rounds of coffee...Yesterday I finally got back on the pole but after not being used for such a long time (about 6 months) it was absolutly filthy as I hauled all 3 heavy pieces out of the garage, so I had to spend about 45 mins trying to clean it with white spirit, but it still needs a jolly good clean as I couldent remove some of the more stubborn marks. I took it slowing just doing some stretching excersies (creaking bones louder than the music!!!) and then just a few simple moves that I learned last year, but my "firemans swing" is not what it was, unfortunatly. Well all this only proves just how out of condition I am, and only managed to stay on the pole for about 15 mins! I am going to try up to 20 mins today when I get chance, but that is going to be after a trip into town and having my personal classroom (Masonic) in my then silent living room. I have so much to learn, but it realy is fun, interesting, and I am testing my memory to the hilt (which isent easy, belive me) and then Sirius will have his walkies before I set about cooking Dereks dinner!
Well that is what I am up to today....as for tonight it will involve more learning and a film (DVD) as I still absolutly detest Saturday night TV. I realy enjoyed Pans Labryinth recently so I might watch that again. Its not for the faint hearted, however as its a bit gorey in places, but that just me as I love horror films. It has a great story though, and some superb acting, as well as excellent CGI. Anyway watching this with my candles all lit and my Port and a light supper, should make for a nice relaxing evening.
Enjoy the weekend folks,
and I will be back soon!
Vix x

Delightful day out in town yesterday with Mum, even dispite it was blowing a gale and there was intermittent rain, but I had to get some passport photos done and at first I thought I was going to have problams with that. To the best of my knowledge there were only two photo-booths in Northampton, one at the Post Office and there was one in the now closed Woolies. Well the one in the post office was out of order so I was scratching my head for other options. We checked Boots and Beatties, both seemed viable options, but neither had a booth and finally walking past WH Smith Mum said "how about in there?" However I was doughtful but we scoured the ground floor of the shop, only to find nothing. Eventually, Mum asked a cashier who said that indeed there was a booth upstairs, so that was sorted...Needless to say the photos are awfull, dispite the fact I was wearing make up!
*hides*
Now because of these dreadful photos, coupled with the fact I can no longer get into my much smarter black suits, has lead me to the conclusion that I am an "aged fat git" and I need to do somthing about it before my special weekend in Vienna in May....Solution!!! = I am going to get back on the pole and cut out all the rubbish I have been eating recently! As we get older we find its much more difficult to stay in shape as our metabolism slows. Now I have no excuse here because I take "sea Kelp" as it helps boost the metabolism, and is good for joints and your heart. Its just that I have been pretty lax of late, with lots of concernes on my mind, and so my diet got lax too! So the pole it is after I have walked Sirius and done my housey duties (hoovering etc)
Anyway, befor I hop off I would just like to mention I grabbed a lovely bargin yesterday in the form of a gorgeous pair of "coast" black satin evening shoes with bow detail and a small, dainty kitten heel...reduced from £75 down to a mindblowing £15!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and lets just say those shoes were off the shelf faster than Sirius after a cat, and paid for and in my bag, just as soon as!! and they fit me beautifully as well! I just love the small heel becuase I have flat feet and find it difficult to wear high heels, although I love them. Now with going on the pole I am always told by teachers to always wear platform high heels as this aids with both grip and swing, but I must admit when I am on the pole (as I will be later today) I wear ballet shoes (I am such a wuss) or nothing on my feet at all...well wuss or not, I must do somthing about my overly flabby, out of shape body...and preferabally not looking in the mirror as it gives me nightmares!! LOL!!

Love all
Vix

Following lots of informative chats, my introduction to the Bretherin at Lodge Mercury and my formal interviews, I am set to be Initiated into my First Degree of Entered Apprentice on this Saturday, at the UK's head office of Co Fremasory, Lodge Golden Rule in Surbiton, Surrey!!
My heart is all butterflies!!!!!!!
I feel so very honoured and indeed privledged that both my Lodge (Mercury) have accepted me, and that my Initiation should take place at Lodge Golden Rule! Normally an Entered Apprentice will be initiated into their "Mother Lodge" which is in my case Lodge Mercury, but I am so very humbled to have been chosen to have my Initiation at this wonderfuly Grand Temple!
For those of you that don't know, my journey into Freemasonry actually began about 37 years ago, while as I child I was totaly fascinated by my Uncles Masonic stories of King Soloman and his Temple. Now this fascination stayed with me all my life, and when I was dreadfullly ill at Christmas, I began thinking...I am not getting any younger (non of us are) and if I don't petition to join now, I basicaly never will, so there and then I made the decision. Following my joining a Masonic internet forum, I recieved lots of help and encouragement, and was pointed in the right direction so to speak by a lovely lady and the next thing I knew I was invited to the Lodge and was made to feel so very welcome that I felt I had known these lovely folks all my life!! My mentor (Jounior Warden) had me laughing while I was helping to tidy up after our delightful dinner with his "this is the ritual of the stacking of the tables!!" and the whole evening was so friendly I dident realy want to leave!! Anyway, today I realised that the week was getting on so I made a phone call to check if all had gone well with my ballot and if there is anything else I needed to know or bring with me. I was absolutly delighted when I got a lovely phone call back saying all was well, and my Initiation is to go ahead!
For a long time now I have felt there were stitches missing in the fabric of my life, and I filmly belive my journey into Co Freemasonry will help me compleate myself, so to speak. My only regret is that I did not do this 20 years ago!

In other news!
Where has everyone gone???...or have I got boring LOL!! SORRY!!
but I have noticed my blog is still getting plenty of hits so I hope some lovely folks out there still reading!
For the future I promise to not waffle on about Troika pottery and the such-like...*hides* I have got a wee bit boring of late, but the old Vixter is still here and I promise lots of posts on very varied subjects in the future, even if I am on a soap box or moaning! but thats just me! ...Ok, I am going off for some celebratory Port now, and a bit of a light supper too...at the moment I am watching the story of Wendy Richards battle with cancer and its reminding me of my Dad's final battle with this horrible disese...so I might have to watch something cheerful on DVD later on. Poor Wendy. She was a brilliant Star...
Ok, Sirius has just reminded me that its "milk and biccies" time, and my fish need feeding!

Love to all, and have a nice evening!
Vix