I managed to read a map , the first Ive done in ages . Map ? A to Z more accurate , anyway it ook me a few minutes of stopping the car , turning the page round a few times to work out what was what then , hey who needs a satnav anyway .
But , I did pay loads of money for it when they first came out and now I cant get the maps working and it cant be right to just ditch it . I find what looks like a warehouse and a garage all rolled into one , very much a man's world kind of place but once I find my way in the three men are very friendly and seem to know what Im talking about " you know the code thing where you ring germany well I cant get it to work whenn I input it and now you cant ring them like you used to so can you show me ? " I realise as Im talking I must sound incoherent and one of them looks at me quizically like D does late at night when I talk total nonsense and he tries to make a story out of what Im saying or asking
" Are we talking satnavs here ? " he says " and are you talking the vdo and the icq code "
I realise looking round me hat this is a big company and they sell a million other things besides this particular satnav with the poblem .....

But they dont seem to mind . Its Friday morning and the place is deserted . He tells me they can definitely help but Margaret who knows about them , has phoned in as she is a bit ropey this morning , so they will take my number and she will phone me . Result !
Im more than happy with that , and head off to Debanhams which is just down the road , attached to the MetroCentre and manage to squish myself into some size ten jeans ( though I do bend my longest nail in the process ).

Its the start of a good day ....

CatCalls

A new CatCall arranged yesterday for this weekend and possibly some more dates in August , a lovely little six months black kitten who retreated into her yard and sat and watched me from there . Long and thin with a big fluffy tail , she looks like one of her parents was somebody posh and the other , less posh but fluffy .
The dogs havent got back to us though its still possible , but we have a busy weekend ahead so if they dont thats fine too. A bike ride is planned for tomorrow involving a trip on the Ferry ( my first ) , though the forecast for the weekend is not good so we are hoping to beat the rain . I bought a cat magazine and almost a dog one , but resisted as that would send out all the wrong messages . I did think of buying it then hiding it but thought that wasnt wise . She might think we definitely are contemplating that pug , and Im not , really , am I ?

pugs and satnavs

I was wrong . The post it note (Electronic ,Post-it Software Notes - vnunet.com ) on my laptop screen didnt say Look into getting a pug for Nat , it said Look into buying Nat's pug . There is a difference though subtle .... but it made me think , with its implication that there already is , somewhere out there, a Pug that is Nat's and the message to me was about finding that particular pug , not finding any old pug .

Having spent hours yesterday at home writing a report for court , staring at the screen , searching for the right turn of phrase that couldnt be nitpicked to death later , if it came to it , I awarded myself a few minutes research last night ( pugs , the breed , availability of rescue pugs etc ) . An hour later I was still there , staring at endless cute pictures of pugs crossed with boston terriers ( Buggs ) , pugs crossed with cavaliers ( Puggaliers ) , pugs crossed with chinese crested somethings or others . Its endless . The funny thing is that in the cat world if your cat got out and gets together with a non pedigree you wouldnt be thinking of selling the kittens ( for money , you'd be wondering how to find good homes for them ).... but these cross puppies are still selling for £1000 .....But hey , who cares they're so sweet . ....Just hope N isnt reading this .

Off to get my SatNav fixed ...... another never ending saga of the maps , the codes , the CIQ authorisation system which involves ringing Germany then being told ( automated phone message , polite German voice .. We are sorry that we no longer exist , try the website to get your maps now ...) to get on your computer and manage that way .

But , and this is not inconsequential , I fear becoming lost in Dunston without the SatNav to direct me to the satnav mending shop .
Wish me luck ....

a tree in a bed and no Dogs

Another Belsay Hall picture .

The MR2 is still outside the house . The couple who came on Sat and agreed to pick it up on Monday , didnt ring to make arrangments on Sunday so following another flurry of interest yesterday , someone else is coming tonight . Fingers crossed that it goes before D blows a gasket .

The RS2000 is fixed though, petrol pipes replaced and car itself serviced and declared immaculate and worth much more than D paid for it .

CatCalls are coming in now for the next few weeks but neither of the DogCalls have materialised . Shame really , I was looking forward to the Labrador and corgi and dogwalking at the weekend .

Yesterday was a desperately stressful day so I watched two more episodes of Six Feet Under Series Five , Nate s funeral . Several pieces of flapjack came in handy as well .

Reflecting how much I would like to work in a hospice , but that as far as I know there arent any in this area for children and thinking of Freddie , as I do a lot , it seems all wrong . I wonder what it takes a to open one . Money , I suppose .

An electronic post it has arrived on my laptop :

"Look into getting a pug for N "

Hm.

...he really didnt have the nerves for it either . He rang the man he thought had bought the car , to ask where he was and what time he was coming , and would you credit it , accidentally got the numbers mixed up and rang the man he had turned away yesterday afternoon , telling him it was already sold and then having a hard time from the man who tried to pressure him into selling it to him anyway " Never mind the other guy , Ive got the money on me , I want to buy it now not tomorrow " and D being a man of principles refused to do the dirty on the first- comer .

Now here he was ringing that man by mistake and saying " how come you're not here ?"

This is probably way too complicated for anyone who wasnt here and didnt see D s face when he came off the phone ....." Its no good , I just cant do this any more ". When Id stopped laughing I told him it could have been worse . He could have accidentally rung the " Time wasting Geordie B*****d people and asked them where they were . Now that would have been funny

Belsay Hall, leaking petrol

51 pictures I took .

I needed to get over my anxieties in the RS2000 and to appreciate that the banging noise from the exhaust is a desirable attribute which even has a name ( a burble , when its attached to a Subaru anyway ) . I managed to relax a little in the passenger seat by flicking through the Sunday Times magazine and avoid looking at the other trafic and tuning out the noise of the engine and whatever else was making all those awful noises that get me in a complete panic and make me feel we are caning it at 100 miles an hour quite unnecessarily . My excitement about Belsay hall helped . Half way up the dual carriageway though , the smell of oil , or burning rubber , or something scary got too much for me and even eating a sour cherry sweet only worked for a minute or two . Turnd out D could no longer ignore the smell on the grounds that it couldnt be happening ( not so soon after Toad Alarm anyway ) and he pulled over on the hard shoulder and we both looked under the engine , which looked very clean and nice and no smoke .

So far so good .

Having parked in a field as ordered by an English heritage person , we walked past her on our way to the exhibits and she called us over and told us we were leaking oil and showed us the evidence on the road . It seemed best to proceed with our day and shelve Broken Down Car Stuff till later .

The art was amazing . The cheese scone was ok . The birds and the flowers and the gardens were inspirational , but when I got back to the car and D told me it was indeed leaking , petrol though , my heart raced thinking of how cars with petrol pouring out of them explode when you see them on Casualty . I wanted to stay there and sleep in the car all night , or ring for the AA man to come and tell us what to do , or even do it for us . I didn't under any circumstances want to be a passenger in that car driving home Far Too Fast ( to beat the explosion )but .....

here I am , downloading my 51 photographs .

The man who bought the Toyota was supposed to call tonight to make arrangements to collect it (and pay for it)and guess what , neither . D , who has been edgy throughout the whole buying and selling of cars business , is looking tense, and threatening to trade the RS2000 in ( at a garage) for a nice big old Honda , and has almost conceded he hasnt the nerves for Trading .

We shall see .....

DogCalls and a can of Carlsberg

Another DogCall ( and another CatCall ) making me wonder whether the ad has been re listed in a different space right next to dog services or something .Maybe there's a lack of dog services at all ? Maybe no such thing as dog services so they have to ring CatCalls . Who knows ?

Such high winds today I was pedalling as hard as I could on the quay and making no progress whatsoever , even got blown up a steep little incline that usually takes it right out of me . Arrived at the ferry landing though just in time for the arrival of the North/ South Shields Ferry . ( Now that I know about the Four Broken Ribs I dont feel quite so pathetic on the hills , don't think back with anguish to five years ago when I could sail up ( quite )big steep hills near Ambleside ).

The winds have also contributed to Toad Alarm Problem , and D was approached by one of the neighbours to let him know the alarm keeps going off , so having sold the MR2 at lunchtime ( to be collected on Monday ) he headed for MotorWorld and had Toad Alarm investigated . Transpires Toad Alarm has long since burnt out , so he dismantles it and has a CD player fitted instead . There's a logic in there somewhere .Meanwhile I fester in front of the Boxed Set of Six Feet Under , season five , revelling in daytime tv which wasnt allowed in my day , in fact it probably didnt exist except on sundays , when there was a Film .

N arrived back from her friend's at nine and shortly afterwards the doorbell rang and she disappeared outside for long enough to burn the cheese and bean toastie she was manufactering in the kitchen .

Later , much later , during a lull in Six Feet Under when I ask who was at the door she said it was A , upset because someone had called her an anorexic barbie . I've lived in fear for years of someone insulting me like that . I should publish my photo at this point .

Just received a text from L " How odd . . I have just found an unopened can of Carlsberg down by the river.. This morning I am mostly painting "

Life on the farm always seems so much more full of detail somehow .

Today is Belsay Hall day . Debbie has heard the exhibits are fantastic . I tried to get TimeCode at Blockbusters but to no avail , hence Six Feet Under.

D has returned from the plant stall at Tynemouth Station with several more tomato plants , a dwarf bean plant and some perpetuating lettuce ( my request) all for a fiver . He is delighted , not least as the numerous tomato plants alraeady set up outside have a fungal infection of sorts and have waterlogged with all the rain . He is trying to shelter the cucumber plants in the outdoor guinea pig run from the wind....