Trip to London

My sister, Cindy and niece, Sarah

I went to London for three days last week. I know , I know , I should have written about it earlier but I'm a bad blogger!
Anyway, I went with my lovely sister and niece for a girlie trip. We went down on the train and spent two nights there. Our first night we went to see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. The show was excellent. We had seats in the first balcony, second row up so could see everything perfectly. The music, the costumes, the sets, everything was so wonderful. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
We stayed in a nice hotel in Bayswater and had breakfast included. It was continenal style but sufficient. Our only full day was spent touring London on the Hop On Hop Off bus. You buy a ticket and the bus goes all round London stopping off at different places where you can get off, look around and then catch the next bus. They run about every 15 mins so we never waited long and got to see all the sights. There is a tour guide who tells you all sorts of fascinating facts about the city.
We went into Leicester Square that night, intending going to the pictures but saw crowds of people behind barriers. When we got there it was a premiere for the film, Leatherheads, starring George Clooney and Rene Zellweiger. We missed George but got to see Rene up close. We stood for so long we missed the start of any films so went to Pizza Hut to finish the night off and got totally stuffed!

Me and Sarah

We really enjoyed our trip and have decided to save up and go again next year.

Rene Zelleweiger

V is for Voluptuous

I love that word, voluptuous. It conveys beauty. It conjures up those rubanesque paintings of scantily clad, beautiful, large ladies that adorn all the best gallery walls. In their time, big was beautiful and to be celebrated, not to be ashamed of.
I'm now taking a leaf from that book and will celebrate my size, make the best of my size, be loud and proud of my size. No more moaning, I'm accepting the fact I'm larger than life and will henceforth be VOLUPTUOUS.
Pass the chocolate box, I'm diving in!

Snow for Easter

We had snow on Easter Sunday. Our first snowfall this year and it lasted all of three hours! Not that I'm complaining because I hate snow. I hate walking in it and driving in it. The only way to enjoy it is from the window, while tucked up in front of a warm fire.
But snow at Easter just doesn't seem right somehow. Snow at Christmas is right. We haven't had snow at Christmas for so many years and although I hate it, it's the one time when it should appear. To get the real feel of Christmas, we should wake up to a snowy landscape with big flakes falling past the window. The morning should be spent opening presents then snowballing or sledging before dinner.
Easter is about spring and flowers and baby lambs. Easter morning should be sunny and bright with daffodills in the garden. I know Easter is early this year but even so, by the end of March we're looking forward to the end of winter not a replay!

U is for Unladylike!

I've never been accused of being a lady and here are some of the reasons why:
I have never let a man believe that he is better than me. I believe all men and women are equal and deserve the same opportunities in life, love and career. And I don't believe in waiting on a man, hand and foot.
I love to flirt, openly. I have, on occasion, worn my skirts to high and my neckline to low. I am not a social wallflower. Give me a daft game or a karaoke mike over polite conversation, any day, I like being noticed in a crowd.
My boys were all taught to cook, clean, wash and iron. They love and respect me but have sometimes feared me. As the only woman, I ruled the roost in this henhouse. But we had fun times too, playing games, getting dirty, running around, singing songs, dancing to the music.
I can hold my own in an argument, with man or woman. I have frightened a few into backing down, once or twice. Failing that I have always found turning on the waterworks gets you out of many difficult situations.
I can shout as loud as a navvy and (used) to swear like a trooper.
So you see, no ladylike behaviour from me!
But I don't see that as a bad thing. I've had some riotous times and some cringe worthy moments which all add up to a life well lived. And this means that I will continue to go skidding into old age as any self respecting non-lady should do, with total and utter abandon!

We had an Earthquake!

At one o'clock yesterday morning we had an earthquake!
A loud rumbling woke me up and as I did I felt the bed shaking. I nudged John, who was asleep, and he just grunted and turned over. I went back to sleep, wondering if I'd imagined it. When we got up John said he hadn't heard or felt anything so I really did start to believe I'd dreamed everything. As I was driving John to work at dinnertime we were listening to the radio and they were talking about the earthquake. Mystery solved! I wasn't dreaming, the bed had been shaking.
The epicentre was in Market Rasen which is about 20 miles away from us and it registered 5.2 on the Reichter Scale. No wonder the bed moved!
It was the talk of the day for everybody as we don't usually experience earthquakes here in Scunthorpe.

Catch Up!

Just catching up with some news as it's been some time since I wrote on my blog.
John and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary on the 13th. I know some may say 'unlucky for some' but it really was the best day of my life. I've had the happiest years with John. He is my true soulmate and we still have a loving and meaningful relationship. He does drive me crazy sometimes because he's a man and does those man things that irritate us all but I wouldn't have missed one day with him.
We had a burglary last week. Some little scroats pulled our shed door off it's hinges and took John's motorbike. The shed is padlocked so they just ripped the hinges off. This is John's only form of transport, he doesn't drive, so now he's having to rely on lifts to get to work, or use his bicycle which isn't great on a frosty morning! The police, of course, were their ever helpful selves! They seemed more concerned about how the rats had got into our garden (they climbed over the six foot fence) and why we didn't hear them (early hours of the morning, sleeping, in the front of the house!) than the fact that we had been robbed by those scabby little pustules on society. We were given a crime number and told to go away, basically. I know there isn't much the police can do but a little bit of concern and sympathy would have gone down a whole better than the questioning our ability to keep our possessions safe and failing miserably, make us feel worse why don't you, attitude.

T is for Travel

I am a slightly seasoned traveller! I've had some great holidays in a few different countries.
I've been to Cyprus which is a lovely country with really friendly locals but you have to put your toilet paper in a bin, no flushing it down the toilet. YUCKIE is an understatement for that little gem of information! So, much as I loved the place and the people, I will never go there again.
Turkey is another great place. The people there are even friendlier than in Cyprus. It is quite under developed, though so there are very few proper roads or pavements, just tracks. And you soon get fed up of being hassled to visit every bar and restaurant and not being able to just browse in a shop without being talked into buying something. I wouldn't go there again, either, especially after the middle of June because the heat is just unbearable too.
Spain is lovely. They know how to treat tourists, they're used to us. They are polite rather than friendly and they leave you alone in shops etc. The weather is always just right for soaking up the sun without being to oppressive.I have visited several different areas, all of which I really did enjoy.
But the place I have enjoyed the most is America. I went there in the late 80's for a month. We stayed in Wyoming, Utah, Kansas and Ohio. We travelled by Greyhound Coach which I would NOT recommend to anybody! I saw some absolutely wonderful sights including Salt Lake Temple, Nauvoo and the Joseph Smith Pageant held in Richmond, Ohio every year. I climbed a small (!) mountain in the Titons, visited a rodeo and a baseball game, looked out over the Grand Canyon, slept in a log cabin in Yellowstone Park and ate S'Mores toasted over a camp fire. It was a holiday of a lifetime and I will never forget how wonderful the country and it's people were. I'd love to go back again someday.
We're planning to visit Rome this year so I'll have another country under the belt.
And the place I've never been but have always wanted to is Hawaii. Maybe, one day!