*sulks*

must call out engineer in the morning!! :(

Yesterday I paniced!!!

At 4pm I switched my spa on to heat for the evening session and when I went to check on it 2 hours later, I was horrified to find it had not heated a single degree since I turned it on!!
The digital moniter still read a very stubborn 29 degrees!! So inbetween getting Dereks dinner ready, faffing about making home-made candles and giving Sirius his tea, I began frantically messing about with my tub, with a deep frown and a sinking heart. When Derek came home while all this was going on he naturally asked me what was up and when I told him his face dropped too!! It dopped even further when I told him a relacement heater would cost £500!!!
Many expleatives filled the air at Vicky Towers, I can tell you!!
Anyway I turned it off and turned it on again, gently tapping the engine aea of the spa to see if that would help, and miracliously the moniter went up a degree...and then another, a short while later. Briefly, I breathed a sigh of relife, just to have another horror filled my mind...my spa would not be hot enough for my usual 9pm session!! So as it tuned out I had a very brief and if albeit cooler spa at 10pm when the heat had only risen to 37 degees (my normal heat is 42 degrees) ...even Sirius looked perplexed!!!
Us humans really can be a very stupid species!!...When we panic, all our logic vanishes!!! a bit like the scenario of lost car keys when your late for work. ..As I sat in my marginally cooler tub I started to think. "Vicky, what time of year is it? and how warm?" Well its mid October and at night about 8 degrees! and thus was my answer!! My tub was simply not heating as quickly as it would in the warm summer evenings!! and a little knowledge of how a hot tub works comes into play here too. When the heater is switched on, the tub filtre comes on automatically so the filtered water that blows out into the tub, passes the heating element and so heating the water. When the tub is running in full bubble mode the air outside the tub is drawn in to make the bubbles and if the outside air in cooler this will in turn make the tub cooler and in a half hour session the heat can crop by 3 degrees or more, if its cold enough! I have memories of using my tub last winter when the temp dropped to an arctic -20 and my tub session were cut to 10 mins and I had to cover the lid of my tub with blankets to keep the heat in...I kid you not!!!!
I am cetainly not looking to have a repeat of last winter!!
Solution!!!! Turn my spa on to heat earlier and keep the lid covered. A little extra work, but its worth it!!
In other news...
Over the last weekend I had a vey powerfull compulsion to buy a crystal ball....I have no idea where this feeling came from or what prompted it, but the urge was irrisistable! So the day before yesterday I took delivery of a large, beautiful crystal ball. But as I know next to nothing about them I began to do a lot of research on the intenet. I do have some brief knowledge of Pagan and Wiccan beliefs and I have been using the Tarot for nearly 20 years, but this is an entirely different ball game, if you pardon the pun.

Thought I woud resurect this seeing as someone has already done it for me

http://vixtravels2.freeforums.org/index.php

HAHAhahahahahaha!!! and more to follow!!

Back in the spring of 1994 I was still settling into managing my new pub, The Wheatsheaf in Dallington, with Linda and my blossoming relationship with Derek was growing stronger by the day! Linda and I had a very cosey working routine which suited us both. I woked the mornings and early afternoons as well as re-opening early doors at 5.30pm. Linda worked the evenings, so I had the added benifit of having almost every night off, which I would spend with Derek in our livng space upstairs. Lunchtimes were very routine. Linda would come down to take over fom me at 3pm and I would hurry upstairs with my lunch and a newspaper tucked under my arm...it was here that I was to begin reading the unravelling horrors that had taken place at 25 Cromwell street.
"the House of Horrors!"
At the same time Derek had leant me a book called Peking. A huge, bulky mother of a read...and although I love horror movies and fiction, I do find it very difficult to read about "real" horrors. This was certainly the case with the newspaper reports of the gruesome finds and now and again I found myself unable to read about them as it was so horrible! This was where Dereks book came in handy. So I would fold my paper on the tiny round, formicka table, folding away the nightmare horrors contained within its pages, and resume to the comfort of my borrorwed book. However, there was no escaping what was going on and everytime I heard about it I wanted to be sick....
Earlier this year I had heard that ITV had made a 2 part drama series about the investigation into the "house of Horrors!" and I was absolutly livid!!!! People making money out of other peoples misery is very abhorrant to me, and I thought this notion was an utter insult to the poor souls who had lost their lives at the cruel hands of the West's...Now this drama was due to be screened at 9pm (my hot tub time) so I was rather pleased with myself as this was a good excuse not to watch it! So I dident. But the next day my curiosity got the better of me and I watched part one on demand, the following aftenoon, freely expecting to turn it off as I thought this was just going to be some sensationalist garbage!
Oh I was so wrong!!!!!!
Appropriate Adult tells the story of an ordinary housewife who is training to become a social worker, but is unexpectidly called on by the police investigating the West murders. Janet Leach's character takes this challange in her stride but as the story panns out, her work with Fred West as his appropriate adult begins to take strain on her personal life and indeed her very sanity!
This drama written by Niel McKay (todays Dr Who writers could do with a few lessons from this chap!!!) was handled very sensitivly and played with BAFTA worthy performances by Emily Watson (Leach) Dominic West (Fred West) and Monica Dolan as a seriously ceepy Rose West...and from the begining which takes us to the two very different housholds of Mrs Leach and Rose West, shuffling about in her slippers and dressing gown...well I was practically glued to my chaise lounge!!!
Now in todays tv world of endless, equally mindless, celebrity/reality/dance/talent shows, I have, over a space of a few years become very put off watching TV simply because of these idiotic and very cheeply done shows and I can honestly say if it wasen't for little gems like Coronation street and Waterloo road (which I love!) I would have given up watching tv alltogether!!! So I found it so refreshing to actually find wonderfully put together drama that has shown that TV does have some hope afterall. Simply put (and in my opinion) Appropriate Adult is AWESOME!! Its dark, almost grimm even...its sinister and takes us on a reluctant but compelling ride on the shoulders of poor Ms Leach as she tries her very hardest to bridge the gap between the investigating police and the mind of an evil serial killer. Believe it or not there is even some humour in here!!! Monica Dolan plays a very sinister Rose West. Her very screen presence just oozed evil and although she only had a few small parts I actually felt very scared of her character as well I should!! She was playing the UK's most evil and sadistic murderess, ever. Saying his though, all the perfomances were amazing. The muisc was minimalistic, dark and moody and the camera works, some of which where hand held shots just added to the authenticty and the utter drama!! It honestly made my flesh creep!!!
Below is just a snippit...but if you haven't seen this yet, its worth every second!!
Just dont watch it late at night, or if you are of a nervous dissposition........YES! It really is THAT good!!

"Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it."

Rene Descartes