SisterBirthday

I am so excited about my sister's forthcoming birthday!
Its not so much fun having one of those landmark occasions yourself when no one quite knows what to do , whether to make a big song and dance about it , to get a card with the numbers on , buy balloons or fix up a party . If you really dont want any of those things you have to clearly spell it out or surely someone is going to organise something for you that is going to be torture.
But its much more fun when you can get into the spirit on behalf of someone else.
I don't think my sister is terribly keen on surprises. Or parties. She's not a traveller ( much ) . Or maybe she's all right with surprises but doesnt like things being organised for her without some prior  consultation. Anyway , having consulted a bit , I have something in mind that I like . Its not majorly exciting but its good to have something to look forward to .
And then last Friday there  was a bit of a plotting going on . And I quite got into the mood .

My first memory ( I think ) was of when she was born . I say I think because you never know for sure whether these are real memories or ideas that have been suggested . But in my head we were staying at the farmhouse where my grandparents lived . And which was where my sister was born "at home" though of course it wasnt her home or mine . Though maybe we came to regard it as a second home in a way . Anyway in my mind's eye someone , I suppose my dad , was holding me up in the air over a marble washstand to look into a crib of sorts and in there was a tiny wizened monkey with black hair. Surely I can't have remembered this , at twenty months old , it has to have been what I've been told . Yet I do seem to have a picture of a little brown  wrinkled face , not terribly enamoured with the world and me not sure what to make of it I suppose. I have no recollection of the adults around me or of what they said or of what happened next .
SisterBirthday !! Coming up soon . Hope its a happy one !

Sunday morning seems to be taking care of itself whilst I sit staring into space , wondering whether I should be taking action . I have plans. A swim at lunchtime, when the pool should be clearer. I am half heartedly awaiting the delivery of some CatMinding keys , though it is half-hearted and if I went out they would arrive just the same through the door. As I sit here , the To Do list grows slowly but surely . I have a birthday present to buy. A once a year post Summer Holiday ironing pile to do ( and put away till next year probably , as rain is forecast for the rest of the week). Ironing is not really my thing, generally .
I have photos to upload.
A cake to bake , maybe , who knows. A dog to walk .
Outside all is still and peaceful . After a fairly frenetic week , its calming to sit here in one place and reflect . My insomnia seems to have deserted me . I'm not sure if thats something to be happy about . Fewer hours in the day for reading , but I am yawning less at four pm .
I have been on the go since seven am but time to get started for real ....

Gazza goes to Rothbury

YouTube - Gazza interview about Raoul Moat on Real Radio North-East **FULL LEN

For those of you who remember Paul Gascoigne otherwise known as Gazza , you may be interested to hear the recording of his offer of help to Raoul Moat last weekend in Rothbury .
I wonder how things would have panned out of Gazza had been allowed through the police cordons to talk to his old mate ( though he does admit he hadn't seen Mr Moat for a year and a half ).
Thirty thousand people have signed up to a Facebook tribute page in support of Mr Moat ( a "Legend") which David Cameron is requesting facebook should remove but so far this is being refused. 
Where will it all end ?

Back from Holidays

We return from relaxing holidays in the early hours of Thursday  having closely followed the story of Raoul Moat on Sky News , to hear that Mr Moat is eventually involved in a stand-off with Police near the river bank last night .

We receive a telephone call that our friend Steve Hall who is also cycling round UK to raise awareness of the plight of refugees across the world , following in the footsteps of Bjorn Heidenstrom who stayed with us last year , had not arrived at the latest leg of his journey in Hexham .The Shirt 2010 Steve was due to stay in Hexham where a friend of a friend had kindly agreed to offer a bed for the night before he would come on to us .
Later in the morning we received a call to say that Steve had had an accident on the A69 and had been taken to hospital by police and ambulance . Frantic calls led to D tracking him down finally late last night and it was at 11 pm therefore that D saw him and then left him still parked up on a trolley in a hospital corridor in Accident and Emergency with broken ribs and possible head injury waiting for an observation bed.

I fell asleep watching Sky News where Mr Moat was surrounded by Police and with a gun to his head .

The wierdest part of all this was hearing that at the start of the stand off a local man was apparently fishing in the river just metres away from where Moat was holding a gun to his head .
Later , Paul Gascoigne appeared on the scene with food parcels for Raoul Moat declaring himself a pal from former times , presumably from Mr Moats days as a bouncer . Gazza  was interviewed on Real Radio and , slurring somewhat said Mr Moat was a real gentleman and "someone must have wound him up". Indeed.
The Sky News reporter said somewhat enigmantically that most of Mr Gascoigne's interview "could not be broadcast". He was however on the scene offering to intervene.
I myself had high hopes that the two men would have a chat , there would be tears , and that would be an end to the matter .  Sadly ,it was not to be .


I was thus  horrified to wake to see footage of Mr Moat's  removal to the Newcastle General Hospital and discover that he was arriving at the same hospital as Steve . Hopefully by the time Moat arrived Steve was safely on a ward (2 15am). I suspect his confusion would not have been  helped by the armed police accompanying Mr Moat .
Questions now relate to whether Moat killed himself as a result of the firing of a taser stungun. An Independent Inquiry will follow - who fired first ? Sky News continues to buzz.

Steve is to remain in hospital at least another day .

More Seagull News

After the fiasco that was the Football ( not that I know anything about that really ) and a lovely Family Party , fourteen or so of us gathered round the tv , even including Moi after it got too hot in the garden where I had retired for a while , and a lengthy spell around the tea table competing over who could eat the most home made cake / quiche/ Pringles and so forth while sharing news and indulging in the age old sport of Little Brother teasing ( when two or more sisters are gathered together .... the brother will suffer ... especially if his partner enjoys joining in mercilessly .

Upon our return  home seagulls were swooping and screaming in the street .
Clearly something was up but no sign of a fallen baby on the ground or indeed of the Parent Birds above the Chimneys where the nest is .

I went to the back of our house and one of our neighbours immediately called for help ( from her roof space!) She was up there peering out though it was impossible to see why . Transpired one of her cats was on the roof , invisible at that time , and it was the cat which the seagulls were dive bombing . The cat was too alarmed to retreat back in through the velux window and had edged close to the lower roof.
Within minutes several more "observers" were out and Biffa the cat kept popping up having found a hole in the tiles of a neighbouring roof . Eventually he was retrived, but not before D in his haste to assist had kindly locked me out into our back area ( Cheers there !! ) and I had to be rescued by yet another neighbour , who commented "theres always something happening in this street" .
Never a dull moment . Just wishing at the moment I had time to write about it all .

We are off on hols on Thursday amfor a week . I just cannot wait and feel very lucky to be going away . My sister is here to take care of all our animals and house sit . Hopefully she will seagull watch and keep an eye on the Fox and of course , neighbourhood happenings .
Take Care all of you xx

Feeding the Baby Seagulls

This morning after I fed my cat, and came back to hang out washing in the sunshine, I could only see a parent bird and no babies .

I feared the worst .

Though after a while of standing listening I thought I could hear a few peeping , kleeping noises .

And then I saw a tiny head appear against the bright backlit chimney pots.

Then another little bit of fluff.

I fetched the camera, lined up a few shots . Mostly I got nothing , shooting into the light and at such a distance and with no fancy lenses. But I did manage to get a few shots of big birds on guard and teeny heads and one shot of big parent birds feeding fish into the beaks of the fluffy chicks .

You can probably make out the open beak of the big bird here . And the little one close up waiting for food on the right . I might get some better shots tomorrow. After all this excitement we went for a walk at Gibsidewith friends . This is the chapel .

Spooks at Four AM

A very bizarre thing .
More migraines this week , putting me semi out of action for a day and a half though with medication I had spells where reading was possible . Mostly in between bouts of nausea and during those hours when the rest of the world is peacefully sleeping . I watched three am go by . And four . And then stayed up for five and six and seven .
The birds were shouting outside by this time .
We have re- visiting seagulls in our back lane . My friends Deb and Sallie , who know a thing or two about seabirds from their Salcombe connections, tell me that seagulls and their nests are not to be encouraged , as the gulls will dive bomb anyone in proximity to the nest,  but we in this street are all that is ridiculous when it comes to sentimentality and the animal world .( Alice has however already been threatened by the adults, as has D with his camera) .
 We watch in fascination as the three fat fluffy seagull babies perch on the edge of the chimney and the parent birds clamour and chack and shout and scream at passers by . As evening falls , the voices quieten too and from behind a screen of our flowers and guinea pigs , the babes can be seen settling and a single parent watching from on high. The street in turmoil earlier that day as one of the babies landed somehow in the lane. Stalked by curious cats and perhaps later by the nighly foxes, it was all too much for Sam and she packed him or her into her cat travel basket and delivered him up to Mary our local BirdWoman who advised "They are quite robust" indicating a garden full of baby seagulls already in her care.
Sam already has a number of responsibilities and said she had two cats . "I myself have ten" said Mary but kept the new baby nontheless.
We were grateful the baby was still alive. After his disappearance and before we heard Sam had made her rescue a sadness hung over the back street.
Enough of birds .

During the night last night as I read "The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce" I was struck by the incredible quiet . No birds . No sounds . Even the dog silent .
At four twenty am I headed to the bathroom and as I sat in there thinking my thoughts I heard what sounded like  a tv playing loudly, all out of the blue. Its not unusual for N to leave her tv playing but I had not heard it as I passed by her room. I also realised she was out , sleeping over at a friends. I listened at the wall near to the next door house. Were they up late celebrating the England win?
The noise, louder than N would usually have her tv, was coming from N's room .
I felt my heart beating faster and wondered if something had happened and N had come back home without my knowing . A problem? I pushed open the door, fearful without knowing why. Bed unmade but empty . Otherwise nothing out of place. Tv on at fairly high volume . I switched it off and returned to my book .

This morning when I returned home with N and mentioned the tv she pulled a face . We definitely have a ghost , she said . I was half was downstairs and ran back up to switch the tv off when I left the house yesterday afternoon . I have a thing about leaving the tv on .
I confessed to her I had been perplexed about why I hadnt heard it earlier in the night when I had been up and down . I had been to the bathroom earlier when it was equally quiet .
Today is the anniversary of my Grandmother's death . Do you know anything about this Grandma? Sixteen years today.