Monkey faints as Ms CatCalls takes the Wheel and heads for Grasmere

Alice prefers me in the back seat ....

Monkey faints as I take the wheel

Its official ... we are back . Though I am still ( officially at least ) in Denial .

Despite the rain ( second half of trip ) I would have still have given my eye teeth or something to have had six weeks or maybe even six months tootling about in the camper van seeing this and that .

Alice had a preference for D driving . The monkey certainly did , and D noted that when he was behind the wheel the cool box .. well , say no more .

We started where we meant to , in Bronte country , where the sun shone and the graves and the parsonage were grim but wonderful . I recommend Haworth to all . Photographs will follow , perhaps ad nauseum , who knows .

Alice caught a rabbit as we stumped across the moors where those skinny little Brontes walked to the waterfalls , allegedly on a daily basis , but let it go on command and as she seemed to be holding it very carefully and not a drop of blood was seen , it hopped off quickly and we assumed all was well . Though our hearts were pounding and Alice was all agog and her teeth chattering much as when she sees a steak pie up ahead .

More to follow ....

Now this I find interesting ... I receive a copy of the letter from the neurologist ( about whom I was ranting last week ) to my GP , noting that I am much improved generally ( what ? ) and that May was a very good month for me though June has been unfortunately less good with three severe headaches . Three ? I sqwark , three ? I saw him write in his notes that immediately prior to my attendance I had had ten days of headaches , and that was just that bit of the month . You really aren't interested in hearing about the rest of the month ....What is going on here ?
Ah here is the reason .. he signs off that he is intending to discharge me due to my improvements blah blah . Would look a bit odd to say we do not appear able to assist this woman so are discharging her anyway . But why not , on reflection . Why not indeed ? What price honesty ? Failing does not sit easy ? Do I do this in my job ? This I need to think about .

However , I am on a bit of a high so I have no intention of letting any of that get me down . Since then I have had one or two minor setbacks but otherwise have been well .

I am officially now on holiday for several days . Despite the rain outside ( very heavy ) I cannot quite believe it will continue ) , and by Sat when we collect our hire camper van from York it will be sunshine all round and we will be exloring Bronte country and then further afield whilst Nat is on her school trip to Europe ( France Belgium Germany ). Those teachers deserve a medal .
Alice is psyching herself by sleeping at every possible opportunity , her head under the cushion .
She has particularly revelled in the practice runs on the local wine bar , and test drives of our bed ( the occasional afternoon snooze ) , and has even " done sharing " with the cats . Kitty is not amused .
Laura is moving in to take care of house and cats and has her own plans ( Mouth of the Tyne Festival this weekend ) .
PS . How do you spell sqwark ? Anybody ?

Canny dancer that Matt

If you need to smile ...YouTube - Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

Deacon Blue .... I get to go out yet again ....

Spurred on by the success of Elton John , despite the late night on Sat , when my phone wakes me at some unGodly hour ( it was certainly pre seven am ) asking do I want a ticket for the Sage and Deacon Blue that night , I turn over thinking No no please , I have to sleep , I have a cat to feed at seven thirty and I will definitely be brewing a headache by eight , and we are having brakfast at Lui's and there is the dog to walk and Laura is staying and I have ironing to do ( which is all pants as anyone who knows me knows I haven't ironed anything since 1994 ). But miracles by eight I am full of energy and I am arranging the ticket and after a light day dog walking , breakfasting , CatCalling , entertaining , and finally almost fainting at the amount that Nat forces me to spend at Silverlink on her holiday toiletries as the school trip to France and Germany looms large (£25 for a few holiday sizes of this and that , though there was a sun cream and an after sun which she is so going to be needing ... currrently we are lashing it down here ) . She realises I am failing fast and pushes me into Starbucks and orders me a tall caramel frappucino light something or other and sits me down whilst ascertaining that half her friendship group is also at the centre and thus can all rendez vous at our house in a few minutes time .....

I stagger into the house wondering how I will cope with another night out so set the alarm and fall into bed for an hour . Asleep in seconds , awake again in minutes ( 60 ) , I cram down a toastie whilst Nat and her pal look me up and down and re arrange my attire and hairstyle , declare me " cute " and push me out of the door with advice about my hometime .

Advising my friends that its well past my seven o clock watershed they are only too happy to give me clear driving instructions ( their plan had been to cycle to the venue ) so they tolerate my emergency stops and various other foibles well despite never having met me , and we arrive in one piece ( ish ) .

I'm going out more often . Its official .

Elton John comes to Darlington ...

...and I get to see him ......!! and you can too , click to enlarge ....I waited twenty five years for this , worth every minute .


A covered seat in the arena , very useful when the heavens opened , A rainbow over the proceedings just as he started to sing Yellow Brick Road , cheese pies , maltesers, a mad scramble for the shuttle buses at midnight . No headache . What more could I ask ?

Not Today Thank You

Cat spied at the end of our road this morning .

Long shot of the Erections

I'm beginning to get the erections .

Shot from the top of Collinwood monument and looking along the river mouth ( river Tyne ) on a brilliantly fine day , they do add something .

I love the photo of the Tynemouth dogwalkers trying not to look .