Yesterday

Im cross and grumpy with today's Times Codeword ( and a few other things besides ) . It features a word Orc which Ive never heard of , and the whole thing defeated me . And now Im irritated beyond words with that and the fact that my laptop is dropping to pieces but I cant hand it in to be repaired as I need it every day , and it shouldnt , in my book , have failed after just after one year's use . I'm in a bad mood .

Hopefully tomorrow will be better .

And , finally , I desparately want to speculate about what happened with Madeleine McCann but I wont because how does the endless speculation help anyone . It annoys me there is so rubbish printed masquarading as Truth .....as you may have guessed Im very grumpy indeed .

Normal service tomorrow hopefully .

The Birds

Stressful day today for D and as there was little I could do to help , I did the next best thing and went to town , booking myself a facial and massage on the spur of the moment . If in doubt , do something special ! And special it was , wrapped up in towels and under a blanket covered in oils and trying not to engage with the therapist about my satisfaction with my current " cleansing products " . All I wanted to do was lie there and doze but she wanted to investigate my cosmetic habits .

What do you like and dislike about your current products ?

Theyre fine . I say in a very definite " no one home " voice . Silence as she presses with her thumbs and she starts to breathe heavily . Later I discover she has some kind of problem with breathing and the session takes place with a heavy breathing in the background motif . It doesnt take long before she gets the message and realises I'm there for the massage and the hard sell is likely wasted on someone like me . Bliss.

Later I go for tea ( I have temporarily given up coffee , argh , in an attempt to cut out anything which might contribute to the migraine problem ) in John lewis , and a woman is feeding a baby sitting up in a high chair . the baby is still quite tiny , and very pink , but old enough to eat solids and indeed I notice how well she is tucking into a pot of something white . After the white pot , she eats a pink pot . I get my ginger tea and a piece of cake and sit down . Baby demolishes a pot of something greenish now . I watch in amazement . Nat was never a big eater and a quarter of a pot was her best effort even when a year old . This baby was nowhere near that age .

Green pot scraped out . There now ! says Mother happily and wipes her hand . Her friend looks on with interest . Baby looks round , as it turns out , looking for the next pot . No more ! says Mother and Baby s mouth opens in disbelief . No More ! the mouth opens and she starts to scream . I'm sorry, says Mother , looking slightly panicked . Youve had three ..... I didnt bring any more . Baby is not impressed .

I am fascinated with all this , remembering how thrilled I used to be when Nat ate anything very much . I can't recall any occasion when she asked for more than we had for her .

This afternoon , we take off to St Mary's island again . Stress cant survive long against the bashing of the waves and the seabirds , and the proppect of spotting a seal in the waves ( we didnt , this time ). A coach trip of German people arrive and it is wonderful to see them all hurrying back across the causeway and noting that the tide is threatening to cut them off . they assume we are part of their crowd and include us in the merry chatter .

L suggests we visit them for sunday tea so I buy poppy seeds and plan a cake which N has been asking for . A picnic is on the cards though the forecast is bad ... oh well a picnic in the house will have to do .

so hard to write

Its so hard to write on the days Im at the Day Job . Not that there isnt anything , in fact my fingers itch as I notice things , interactions between people , stuff I find funny that other people seem to take for granted as part and parcel of how people treat each other . Blah blah . I'm in danger of getting into it all . But Ive learned from the blogging giants who have gone before us and trying to write about what wont get me into trouble .....

So I 'll be back later todaywhen its all over , or for real tomorrrow , when I have my life back ....

weekend ....

..trying to hang onto the weekend .

A picture of the causeway , swallows on the sail ropes , and D searching for crinoids , or St Cuthberts Beads . We found a total of around twenty , now displayed in the bathroom

the excitement ....

... the perfect end to an amazing weekend , for the first time in ages , but ages , we booked a holiday ....a proper holiday with flights , sunshine , a beach and all that ... all organised for six weeks time so plenty of time to get even more excited .
And my sister will come and take care of everything here .

All of which made up for the fun of my car packing up this morning and an exciting hour parked up near a garage waiting for the AA to arrive and watching what was going on in the garage which had a sign up saying Sorry we are temporarily closed and bollards preventing cars getting onto the forecourt. ( There is a point to all this detail ) . It was truly fascinating to watch the responses of the cars arriving to drive in for petrol and realising they couldn't get beyond me . I was effectively blocking an entrance which was already blocked . The majority of people pulled up , glanced around , tried to work out what I was doing there , scratched their heads , glanced at their fuel guage then drove off , obviosly realising the smartest move was to find an alternative station . But the odd driver screamed up , shrieked to a halt then worked themselves ( himsef , really , in the main they were men who were cross ) into a silent frenzy , furious that things were not going their way . One woman was amazing . Very stylish , perhaps about seventy odd , small car . She was wearing one of those wonderful turban jobs on her head . Anyway after grinning at me , via several big gestures she indicated that she was bang out of petrol , that she had not a clue where the next garage would be , that she had to be somewhere quite necessary , but , and her smile said it all , What the Hell , life was for enjoying and laughing at and if she ran out of petrol , she'd cope and she trusted there would be people out there in the big world who would be happy to help her .
Sitting reflecting in my car about all this , how differently people react , I noticed a woman striding purposefully towards me . One of the women who worked in the garage to ask if everything was ok , if I needed help , or a lift anywhere , or a cup of tea whilst I waited for the AA ( after I explained my plight ) . This kind of thing makes my day .... unexpected kindness contrasted as it often is with " the workaday world " where we none of us have time to take care of stuff like that .
And now I have to sign off as my laptop is giving out and typing with one finger whilst holding the lid on with the other .....though of course I still have masses to say

yesterday...

....was one of those idyllic days when everything goes perfectly .

CatCall to start the day , and watering plants in the lovely yard there with two friendly cats for company .

It was D's birthday and his daughter and her partner and their little one ( two ) arrived bearing croissants for breakfast . These were no ordinary croissants though , they had been laid out to prove the night before and were now waiting on a tray to be baked , a variety of different fillings . Reminiscent for me of American conferences ( the Day Job) , where you arrive from your hotel at the conference to be served the most amazing danish pastries , croissants etc . Nowhere does it better ! But thanks to J and D our kitchen was a pretty close approximation . All the more appreciated as J was due to go back on night shift later ( she is a midwife not long qualified and if ever you want to watch in admiration as someone manages a really busy life at such a young age , take a look at her blog http://www.motherwifemidwife.blogspot.com/). Alina seemed to enjoy picking up tiny red hearts off the floor most of anything , but thats' how it is when youre two . The hearts had been added as sprinkles to D 's card and present , and there was a moment this morning when I spotted one sticking to his bare buttock which still makes me giggle now ....I dont quite know how it got into the bed but maybe Alina does !

Holy Island in the afternoon was magical . Very few cars there , so as we stood looking out to sea taking endless photos , all we could hear were birds and , when we walked around the headland heading for the beach , the eerie noise of the seals out on an outcrop of rocks , sounding like a cross between distant motorbikes and mermaids singing . Strange noise , which I managed to capture on the camera video function . The castle reflected in the sea perfectly for us in the sunshine for a few minutes and the same as we ate pear cake in a fairytale garden setting with a gang of birds watching us , starlings , thrushes and sparrows, squabbling over crumbs .

We sat on the beach searching for "St Cuthbert's beads ", or crinoids , the tiny fossilised remains which look like tiny beads crinoids st cuthberts beads - Google Image Search and which were spilled by St Cuthbert according to myth. Fossil folklore Incredibly satisfying to find , all different , all beautiful , and something which visitors to Lindisfarne have done over the years , and stil , with each turn of the tide , more of the beads are washed up . We left the island with plenty of time to spare , with the aim of returning at some later stage when the tide is close to covering the causeway , just for the fun of watching as the water closes in from both sides .

Holy Island

Wonderful day at Holy Island .... just a picture for now , though there may be more , I see from the camera that we took 81.

D's birthday , the nicest day I've had in ages . He seemed to enjoy it too !