Call in when passing.

Good morning. A quick one before I go off to the Bowls Club for a coffee morning. If the grass is not too wet they will allow visitors to have a go at bowls. I love ten pin bowling but have never tried bowls on a green before. 

Last night was a big success, the ladies loved my talk, lots of laughs, and they were very interested in my arts and crafts made from recycled materials. I suspect one or two of them might be having a go at knitting plastic yarn made from carrier bags, or fusing the plastic inners of cereal boxes to create shopping bags. After the singing of Jerusalem (this tradition has almost fizzled out now), and the notices read, it was my turn. Pay attention ladies. 

 The journey home took me past Asda, and you know my mantra, 'Pop in when passing, worth a look.' Look what I found, I spent 8p on bananas, pears, and prepared veg (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, carrots). It needs closer inspection but a lot of it is edible, had to throw away half a banana which was blacker than black. Four and a half bananas at 2p is an incredible bargain. I will trim up the veg and cook it today.

Got to dash, I want to walk to the bowls club as it's on my walking route so I can do two jobs in one. Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

A perfect night out.

Hello. I'm just back from a fab night out. The Scunthorpe Male Voice Choir were joined by similar choirs from steel towns in the north of England. It was a full house, tickets were sold out months in advance. I had a front row seat, and Leslie Garrett was right in front of me. It was brilliant. 

There were songs for all tastes, it was hard to pick a favourite. The choirs sang I Dream a Dream, and I immediately had Susan Boyle's voice in my head. They sang it beautifully. Unchained Melody, and The Rose,  are also two of my favourites. Lesley did opera, I don't know how she reaches those high notes, and she did some smashing songs from the shows. There was a medley from The Sound Of Music which she starred in, in London.

I've found a video of Lesley with the Peterborough Male Voice Choir, singing You'll Never Walk Alone, she sang this as a closing number tonight. The combination of a female opera singer with a male voice choir are just perfect together.



I've just noticed that it's past midnight, so I'd better get to bed. I'm going to adjust the date to the 21st, ha ha. My birthday treats are over, and I've really enjoyed myself.

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip

The Beast speaks

Hello. I am planning a week of celebrations for my birthday. I spotted a snippet in the local paper about an event in Scunthorpe which would fit in nicely on the Friday night, so I bought a ticket. The Beast of Bolsover, Dennis Skinner, is always entertaining when he stands up and says his piece at Parliamentary meetings. Although his speeches have a serious message, it's the way that he delivers them which have the most impact. Dennis tells it like it is in his own colourful language. He has balls, he has guts, and he is not one to follow the crowd. I am looking forward to seeing him in the flesh.

Here is a yoootooob video of him being kicked out of the House of Commons, yet again.



Raining again, more sewing. Catch up later. Toodle pip

Would you like a cup of tea?

Hello Campers. Hi de Hi. I've been checking around the www to see what people are saying about my appearance on Good Morning Britain. There are both positive and negative comments, I've been answering some of them on their Facebook page. Of course it does not matter to me that people have a go at me, I find it quite amusing to be able to answer some of them. 

What does the inside of a mini TV studio looks like. It's an amazing array of screens and switches. The van is parked on the road outside my next door neighbours front because the signal is coming from between the two houses and the dish has to face that direction. 

Everything is set up inside the house and a cable is laid between van and house. Live filming is going to start in the living room, with the presenter Katy walking down the halway into the kitchen, where I will be waiting to do my piece. Katy enjoyed my mug of coffee :o)

Then the live filming is done, and twenty minutes later I can view it inside the van. She is asking me some questions. We had a little practice first, and I am trying not to hesitate, and remember the words. 

I already have the pan of veg stew, heated on the gas stove. I made it last night. We carry on talking as I am stirring.

I then spoon some into a bowl so she can taste it.

Katy hesitates, she doesn't look to impressed with the colour and texture. Go on Katy, Sprouts soup for breakfast is delicious, ha ha. 

YAY, she liked it and ate a couple of spoonfuls. I offered to put some into a plastic box so she could take some with her, I am generous like that, happy to share, but she declined my kind offer.

There was a lot of preparation beforehand, and it only took a few minutes to do it. With all the equipment packed away, Katy and the team were ready to go. .

Bye guys, have a good journey.

Don't forget to put the dish down.

Well that's all done and dusted. I've just had my lunch, the sprouts stew is lovely. Anybody for a cup of tea, I've got 159 tea bags left over, ha ha. No, I didn't buy them, the reporter from the Mail brought them with her. 

Here is the link to the piece on Good Morning Britain this morning. Thanks to Gill, that British Woman for finding it.

I've been having a mooch around the www and found some links to newspaper articles. I can't be bothered to read them all.
Daily Mail
Daily Mirror.
ITV News Calendar
The Sun
Yorkshire Post
Scunthorpe Telegraph
Yahoo
FAKT24 polish newspaper
Daily Express
Daily News
AOL
Hexjam
Real Fix 
Headline News
My Informs

I can't find a link to the Studio interview at Calendar Leeds. There is another article in the pipeline, it might appear this weekend. I think I'll have a rest now. Still not done any walking, unlike Jo, who has now crossed the finishing line at Liverpool. That woman is amazing, there has been times when I thought she might give up, she will be ready for a rest now.

Just been to the vet with Heidi. Another blood test because the last one didn't travel very well through the post to the lab. This time it will be tested on site at the vets as they have a new machine. She appears well at the moment.

Well I'm getting a bit tired now, I think it will be an early night for me. Thank you for popping in. Catch you soon.
Toodle pip.
PS. I have noticed that my members list has dropped by 50 people. Perhaps it is something to do with Google saying you have to sign up to something now. I don't understand it.

There's a man in my kitchen.

Hello. Just a bit more to do. This nice young man called Ed came today. We had a laugh, he said I was quite good. I felt sorry for him because he had come from another job at Darlington and had difficulty finding a hire car, which made him late. These film people don't half get about. he has been on the go since four this morning and when he left me at 5.30pm he still had to drive to Boston. Here he is testing out some equipment. I don't know how it works, he is hoping for a 4G signal. Our mobile phone signal is a bit hit and miss and has a lot of flat spots. Anyway, he decided his gadget was not going to work for the live show tomorrow morning, and the van with an aerial on the roof would be sent instead. Oh my word, I don't know what the neighbours are going to think. Most of them probably won't be up at 5am. Yes, it's an early start. 

If you put the tele on when you get up you might catch me on Good Morning Britain. 

I had a dash to town at lunchtime, needed to pay a bill into the bank, and get some dog food. Yesterday I cooked a big pan of allsorts. Food that I bought a week ago that needed cooking and freezing. It is mostly bean salad with nuts, and a pot of couscous salad, with half a tin of spaghetti hoops I had lurking in the fridge. 

I've got another pan on the stove now, another veg stew. Yellow stickers of course. Sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and half a bag of crunchy salad. Total 45p. That will do for breakfast when the film crew arrive. Oh, and I will have a cup of tea to offer them, someone gave me a box of teabags yesterday, ha ha.

An early night tonight and an early start tomorrow. Don't think there is anything else in the pipeline, I can start the walking again. Some of you have been asking for links to the newspaper articles. I'll sort that out tomorrow. I still haven't seen the bit I did yesterday in the Calendar Studios. I've looked on the ITV site, I can see the film footage they did here, but not the studio bit. I'll have another look. Thanks for all the kind messages you are sending me, I am chuffin chuffed. Thanks for popping in. Catch up soon.
Toodle pip.

Spooky goings on

Hello. I've been out in search of ghosts tonight. Helen rang and asked if I wanted to come on the Ghost Walk event in her village. I thought, ok, why not, let's give it a go. I turned up at the pub car park at the start time, armed with a torch and wearing sturdy boots. It was a good turn out, lots of people had come to support it. The storyteller was a right character, we all listened to his tales of ghostly goings on. 

 We followed him up the High Street.

Gathered around the old water pump there was another spooky story, and the handle on the pump mysteriously moved all by itself. Obviously some jiggery pokery going on there. .

Crossing the road, we all trouped past the bus shelter, into the pitch black down a footpath through a field of corn on the cob. We were surrounded by plants which were six feet tall, very scary. 

Helen was playing her Stewards roll, bringing up the rear and watching the traffic. All donations gratefully received in the bucket please.

A bit of fun for a Saturday night. The storyteller was very entertaining. Anyone else been on a Ghost Walk? Do they have them in the USA, or anywhere else in the world?

Catch you soon, have a nice Sunday. Toodle pip

Come to our village fete

Hello. What a scorcher today, thank goodness the sun shone down on our village fete. We had our usual pitch for our cat rescue fundraising stall. Being at the end of the row means we can spread out to four tables. With the amount of stuff we had to sell, the tables were full to overflowing. Sue also did a tombola, which was a big hit. S'funny how people are happy to spend a couple of pounds on a gamble yet can't find anything they want to buy. We only have the best quality tat of course. Rocky was there to oversee the operation, and was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention. I'm thinking of starting a fan club for him.  

This spot is ideal, the sun comes round and goes behind the trees, so we don't have to sweat it out under the full glare of it. The shade keeps us lovely and cool.

The main pathway through our village green. There was the usual attractions, bouncy castle and teddy bears picnic for the kids, music for the teenagers, ice cream, cakes, games, stalls, and competitions.

Get your face painted if you dare.

Pull a string and win a prize on the Hospice supporters stall. 

Looks like the tea is brewed at the refreshment tent.

Games for children to play.

The refreshment tent is busy now. Most of the stalls are run by local charities. The mother and toddler group always have a good turnout, as do the ladies selling the cakes at the W I stall. The Bowls Club had a competition which was very popular. All in all, a very enjoyable day. A time for families to get together, and in my case, a time to meet all my friends. We did very well on the stall, boosted the kitty, ha ha, with a bit more than a few quid.

Now what was I doing last night when I dashed off to the theatre. I went to see this show. I have never seen burlesque before, only pictures. I imagined it to be fabulous costumes, buxom dancers, raunchy singers, naughty comedy, and fabulous sets. Maybe be a bit like Liza Minnelli in Cabaret. 

I was in the second row as I like to be close to the stage, I was getting all excited and looking forward to it. I must say I thought the first half was pretty boring. The female compare was stomping up and down yelling for everyone to whoop, stamp their feet, yell, and make as much noise as they could. I don't want to do this, I have come to watch a show. The company consisted of four dance girls who weren't anything special, the compare who was getting on my nerves she was very shouty, a comedian who would have been lost without audience participation no jokes he was just being daft, one blonde singer dancer who was a bit like Marilyn Monroe and a bit better than the four ordinary girls, a bloke who swung from the ceiling on chains he was good, and another singer dancer called Amber Topaz, who was very good.

I noticed that the guy sat next to me wasn't clapping at all, so during the interval I asked if him and his wife were enjoying it. He said no. He was of the same opinion as me, nothing special a bit boring. It did pick up a bit during the second half, but in my opinion there was only a couple of good acts in it. Of the four girls, one had implants, the others didn't, one had hardly any chesticles at all and struggled to get both her tassles swirling at the same time. The costumes weren't anything special, I expected lots of glitz and glamour. The show was disjointed, and that bluddy woman stomping about yelling her head off was a pain in the @rse. Why they had billed it as Britains Biggest Burlesque Spectacular, I'll never know. It certainly wasn't spectacular, there was a painted backdrop which stayed the same throughout. No change of scenery, and no special effects except some glitter being thrown about. It was like a show done on a budget. Mind you, by the noise the audience was making I suppose the majority enjoyed it. All in all, a bit disappointing.

Anyway, time to chill. Thanks for popping in.
Toodle pip

Not a load of old tat.

Hello. I went to my first Vintage Fair today. The venue was The Baths Hall in Scunthorpe. It was billed as Lou Lou's Vintage Fair, seems like it is a very big organisation as they hold fairs in 42 towns and cities across the country. I didn't see Vintage Vixen there though, she must have been somewhere else. 

There were stalls of every kind, predominantly clothing and accessories, with home wares, jewelry, bric a brac, and household linens. Even vintage jam. 

Rails packed full of clothes, lots of colourful dresses.

Braces and neck ties on offer, £5.

This was a very large stall, plenty to choose from, for gents as well as ladies.

I had a chat with some of the stall holders, some were dressed in the period, but some were not. I think if you are going to sell this kind of thing you have to look the part. There were hairdressers available to turn long tresses into pinned up curls and flowing ringlets. There seems to be a strong following for this kind of fashion in Scunthorpe, lots of visitors had made the effort to come dressed up. Apart from me of course. Oh dear, I seem to have got out of the habit of dressing up. I need a personal dresser because I haven't a clue.

I had a few other places to go while I was in town so I was dressed for the weather, which was a bit chilly. My quarterly utilities bills came yesterday so I dropped payment into the bank. Gas was £87.52, I had the heating on when it was really cold. Electricity was £36.75, which is about normal. Both should go down next time as we get longer days, and the heating won't be used again until the autumn.

I stocked up on pet food for the cat sitter, and Rocky will have his overnight bag stuffed full of goodies to take to his holiday home from home. I didn't get my printer organised, need some ink, so I've bought two more OS maps. I have the full set now for my walk across England. If anyone thinks I may be passing through their area and wants to walk a bit with me, you are welcome, but I have to warn you that I walk fast. Meeting in the evening might not be possible, as I like to find a room, collapse, and write my blog. I could spare perhaps an hour or so for a drink and chat. I will need your mobile phone number and town or village, so I can text you if I am coming your way. Sorry, I can't pre arrange to meet anyone, except the reader in Southport, because I don't know in advance where I will be at any given time. My email address is on the side if you want to contact me.

Chill time now. Thanks for popping in. Enjoy your Sunday.
Toodle pip.

Which team do you support?

Hello, Hows your Sunday been, I seem to have a long list of things that need to be done, and things that I want to do, putting them in some sort of order is my difficulty. Not enough hours in the day. Yesterday I chose to ignore what needs doing and took time out to go to a football match. This is not something I would normally do, standing, or sitting in our case, with five and a half thousand mainly blokes yelling their heads off and singing. But, I'm game to give it a go. My friend Janet had a spare ticket for the Scunthorpe - Sheffield match and asked me if I would like to go. She is footie crazy bye the way, has been a supporter for many years, they go to all the home games and some of the away matches as well.

I didn't know that it is ever so noisy before the game starts, loud music blasting out, the singing, cheer leaders, the club mascot dancing around, it was a real party atmosphere. The tension building up in anticipation of a win. I made this little video just before the game started. I tried to do a short commentary but you can hardly hear my voice. You may need to turn the volume down or put some ear plugs in, ha ha.



How much does it costs to go to a football match? Janet says a senior season ticket costs £230 for 23 games, so £10 per game. Looking at the web site the price of just one game varies between £13 and £23. I think that the bigger more popular clubs would be charging quite a bit more for their tickets.

When the game started we were in the shade as the sun was overhead, but as time went on and it came down it was blinding and everyone was having to shield their eyes with their hand. I was ok because I had my union jack sun visor on.

The club mascot, Scunny Bunny, was dancing around the pitch before the game started. 

I felt sorry for the young cheerleaders, just as they were strutting their stuff the sprinklers were turned on and they got soaked. 

This man with the yellow flag was skipping up and down the side line the whole time. I missed the first goal because I was too busy eyeing him up. His sideways skipping amused me greatly, ha ha. 

Oh dear, someone has fallen over.

Scunthorpe scored the first goal, then Sheffield the second. Our goalie looked like he hadn't noticed the ball passing by him on it's way into the back of the net. Wakey wakey, goalie.  It finished a draw. A little bit of bother in the Sheffield stand, there was quite a lot of police in attendance. Someone had the bright idea of lighting a red flare. It sent plumes of red smoke into the air which wafted across the pitch.

Everybody seemed to leave the stadium in an orderly manor, it didn't take long to get out. The four legged members of the constabulary were there to oversee things.

Would I go again? Probably not. It was interesting to see what it's all about, but the game is too boring for me. All the stopping and starting, waiting for someone to kick the ball back onto the pitch when it goes astray, it even got kicked right over the top of the stadium and disappeared into the car park. The players getting their legs tangled up and falling over, stop while they pick themselves up, the whistle blowing and flag waving, oh, just get on with it. I don't mind watching a bit of footie on the tele, because they can cut out the boring long winded stuff and only show the goals. I like to see the skill in the few seconds leading up to shooting a ball into the net. A nifty bit of footwork can be quite artistic, almost like a ballet dancer, and the beaming smile on the scorers face is quite uplifting.

It's a bit too late for me to start following a football team now. I wouldn't mind going to see a rugby match though, all those beefy hunks charging round battering the hell out of each other. Yeah, that could be quite good.
Toodle pip.