Sewing, cheap food and collecting stuff.

Hello. I did my three miles earlier today while it was still light. It was surprisingly warm, I needn't have put a jacket on. I'm up to 148 miles for Jan and Feb, but I know there are people who have done more than that. Keep going peeps, only another ten months and ten days left to do. 

I am getting a reputation in this village as someone who is collecting fabric for crafting purposes. A friend of a friend rang last week and offered me a bag of mixed pieces that she didn't think she would ever use. I went and picked them up. There are some nice colours. I promised her I would make her a shopping bag.

Today I delivered two shopping bags, but she wasn't in, so I folded them carefully and pushed them through the letter box. I hope she enjoyed the surprise.

I called in at the Cash and Carry on my way to town yesterday, I haven't been for ages, so I wondered if they had anything new in. I found these porridge in a mug sachet's, £1 for three boxes, 15 sachet's. Not quite as cheap as a 1kg bag of oats at 75p, but I thought they would make a nice change because they are apple and blueberry flavour.  They have a best before date of 27th Feb, which is fine.  

I already have some of these Vegetable Granules in my cupboard, they are handy to add to all sorts of meals. I picked up five more jars at 20p each. They were out of date in April 2015, I don't care.

These noodles were priced up at four bags for £1. There are four separate servings in one bag. I thought four bags would be too much for me, so I bought one bag for 30p. That's 7.5p per serving. The date is best before today, 20th Feb 2016.

And my fourth bargain is a 500grm slab of mature cheese, priced at £2.50. I usually buy a 350 grm pack of cheese for £1.59 from Aldi. The date on this is 25th March 2016, so well in date. I can't find this on the Tesco web site, but they have Cathedral which is similar at £3.50 for 350grm, so I think this was a good buy.

As well as people wanting to give me fabric, it seems I am also the drop off point for friends who are de cluttering. They know that I help with the fundraising for the cat rescue, and anything we can't sell I will take to the charity shop. A bin bag of stuff was delivered to me today, some of which we can sell. Set of new glasses in a box, white ceramic bowls, a money box, and other bits and bobs.  

Rocky wasn't too impressed with his Santa's hat which was in a bag of Christmas decorations, ha ha. 

I think it's time we went out for a last bimble before bed time, so I'll say cheerio for now. Thanks for popping in. Catch you soon. Toodle pip.

Walking with Jo Brand on her 'Hell of a Walk'

Hello, get a butchers of this then. Me and Jo, good eh! I've had a brilliant day. Up early and out of the house by 8am, I arrived at the Waters Edge Visitors Centre at Barton on Humber, at 8.20am. I didn't know what to expect, would there be lots of people coming to see Jo Brand off on her 'Hell of a Walk', or would the windy and damp weather have put them off. My plan was to walk with her for a while, but I didn't want to get in the way of the media. Most of the people there were the media, radio, TV cameras, and newspaper journalists and photographers. I watched while they all did their work. 

It was time to set off, Jo led the way, and we followed. I decided to leave my car there because the crowds had thinned out a bit so I start walking, rather than drive over the bridge and meet them at the other side. Nobody seemed to be leading the way, and I wondered if Jo knew how to get up onto the Humber Bridge. I caught her up because she seemed to be hesitating, and pointed the way, up the road and take the first right.  The winds were very strong, blowing a gale in fact. It was very cold walking over the river. I got chatting to a man who had come over from the other side to meet up with the group. Jo was full of jollity, cracking jokes with everyone. 

An hour or so into the walk it started raining, it got heavier and heavier and hammered it down. Along the route there were groups of people waiting to meet Jo. She stopped to talk to anyone who had made the effort to turn out in the foul weather. 

As we were coming into North Ferriby we were greeted by hundreds of children all waiting patiently in the rain outside their schools on both sides of the road. A lot of them had painted their own messages to Jo on colourful signs which they held up high. It was a fantastic sight. Jo crossed over to speak to them, no doubt cracking a few jokes to make them laugh. 

Then she crossed back over to speak to the tiny tots inside their playground. 

The first pitstop was at the Duke of Cumberland pub in North Ferriby. More people were waiting to see Jo, and there was some filming to do with a group of pork pie enthusiasts. I used the comfort facilities (lavvy), and decided to sit outside at a table with a parasol and eat my sandwiches. I had only just sat down and one of the film people asked me if I would like a cup of tea. I was chuffed at such a friendly gesture, he said come inside, so I did. Look what he brought me. Fantastic eh!

The rain had eased a bit when we set off again. I decided to go a bit further, it was too early to turn round and go back, besides, I was enjoying myself. I had done a few short interviews on camera, not sure if anything will be included in the film they are making, but it was fun to do it, we shall see. I love Jo's sense of humour, she is down to earth, a lot of fun, always joking, and no airs and graces. There is nothing false about Jo, she is what you see on the tele. 

I walked with them to Melton, the next village, where I said my goodbye's and turned round and walked the route in reverse back to my car on the south side of the Humber Bridge. I've checked the miles, it was 7.5 each way, so I've done a total of 15 miles to add to my challenge walk.

If you want to follow Jo on Twitter, here is the link.
If you want to see her on the BBC Sports Relief web site, here is the link.
Or you can look at Sport Relief on Twitter, here is the link.

That's me done for tonight. I'm clocking off. Thanks for popping in. Catch up soon.
Toodle pip

That's a nice pear you've got there ;o)

Hello. It's been a mixed bag of weather just lately. I did a load of washing this morning because it was very windy, but ten minutes after I hung it out the spots of rain began and turned into a downpour. I hastily grabbed it all back off the line and ran indoors. It will stay on the clotheshorse until tomorrow, maybe it will be dry enough to hang it out again. Think I will fix up a line in the summerhouse and hang it in there. Talking of the summerhouse, I need to clear all the fallen leaves off the roof. The silver birch trees in the next garden always deposit tons of leaves over my garden in the autumn. It's a blinking nuisance. 

I got some free pears today, they are huge. There is a tree in someones front garden nearby and I noticed that they never pick the pears and let them fall to the ground where they rot. Last week I knocked on the door and said if they didn't want the pears could I have them. The tree never has a great many, it's quite a small tree, but the fruits are massive. The man said they tried one once and it wasn't very nice. Too hard, very dry, and he didn't like the texture, also it had no taste. He gave me one to try anyway. This morning I cut into it and had a taste. I don't know what he was talking about, it was perfectly alright to me. Not hard, not dry, and tasted of pear. I went back with a carrier bag and my litter picking stick because I knew I could not reach the top ones. Whoopeeee, free pears. 

Janet and Sue had a stand at a Craft Fair today, it was at a big hotel near town. They do this one every year. They don't need me to help and I had Lady dog to walk, but I went for half an hour to see what it was like. It was a big room, packed with stalls. The car park was full and there were plenty of customers milling about. They set the stall up really well, it looked great. Looking around the rest of the room there was the usual jewelry, greetings cards, preserves, sweets, hand made gifts, cushions, wooden crafts, etc.

Most of you will remember that I don't do Christmas at all, can't be bothered. If I want to give gifts I give them any time of the year. No one gives me presents and that's how I like it. When it comes to buying extra food in, I get myself a few little treats, perhaps something I wouldn't normally eat or drink. I've brought Christmas forward this year, well that's my excuse to buy this bottle of cheap port. It's my Christmas treat. I don't buy hard booze, spirits etc, but I do like a small glass of port. Trouble is I've started it already. Oh dear. Never mind, I will sip it slowly and make it last  ;o)

I was hoping to show pics of my latest crafty project, but it's not finished yet, maybe tomorrow.

Thanks for popping in. Jacqui, I've got your email, thanks. I'll reply soon.
Catch you soon. Toodle pip

A mixed bag

Hello. Back for a second post today, you can't say I short change you, ha ha. A bit of  this and that, a mixed bag if you like. In my porch are some books, given to me to sell on our fundraising stall. I am going to sort through them and any we can't sell, or those that are a bit specialist, will go to the charity shops. An elderly lady donated them, it helps her if I do the job, rather than her having to lug them to town. 

Who's this guy then? Why, it's Mickey from two doors down who has spotted me returning home and decided to sit looking at me through the glass as I sit in the porch and take my shoes off. He says, 'ya got any nosh then', or, 'please give me some of your lovely food'. Mostly I don't feed him, he gets enough at home, but occasionally I give in and give him half a pouch of whatever food my fussy cats don't like. He will eat anything.

I thought it was about time I had a mooch around the Scrapstore again, so me and Linda, another crafty lady friend from up the road went off to Hull. I filled my basket with fabric for £5. Including some felt, not shown here.

And bought a few extras. Colourful shoe laces, silver and red sparkly trimmings, pink lace, and small coloured buttons. I spent £10, and Linda kindly paid for the bridge toll for taking her.

Janet sent me some photo's of the kittens in our rescue. They are getting quite playful now. Grey cats are quite unusual, aren't they just adorable. 

I've been on the phone this afternoon, got a call from a chappie doing some research for a possible TV programme. We spent an hour chatting, more like me doing all the talking and him throwing a few questions in and listening, ha ha. It's early days, something may happen, or something may not. It might not even get off the ground. It usually depends on whether they can get the funding or not, and if it does go ahead I may not get picked, it's happened before.

That's it, a mixed bag tonight. Thanks for popping in. Catch ya soon. Toodle pip

Something on my mind

Good morning. In all the papers this morning is a very sad story of  a wonderful old lady of 92 who was found dead last week at the bottom of the Avon Gorge at Bristol. It is believed that she threw herself off because she was overwhelmed by the demands for money from charities, and recently a large sum of money had gone missing in the post which she had sent to her son. She was very upset by this and lost faith in people.

You can read the story here.

Olive Cooke was Britain's oldest poppy seller, she had given 72 years of service to The British Legion, she was a grandmother and great grandmother. She gave away much of her pension to charities who pestered her relentlessly. It was all getting too much for her. How very sad, that this vulnerable old lady was driven to suicide. Sad, but also very shocking.

I get letters in the post asking for money, usually from charities that I have donated to before. Once they get hold of your details they cling like limpets. Lists of names are sold on and before you know it more demands arrive. I say demands rather than requests, because of the aggressive nature of their literature. Images of animal cruelty and sick children are used to make the reader feel obliged to respond and donate. I'm sorry to say, but all mine go in the bin.

Do not feel guilty about ignoring demands like this. Do not feel guilty about walking away from charity chuggers in the street. Do not feel guilty about not answering the door to charity collectors, or saying no on the phone if you get a call from a charity. This might seem an uncaring and hard nosed way to behave, but I know how much I can afford and who I want to give it to. I have charities named in my will, a large chunk of my estate will go to them eventually.

I do donate to charity, but I give willingly to the charities of my choice, as and when I can afford a few quid. I will not sign up to any direct debits.  I'm sorry but I don't do the In Need, the Red Nose, or the Relief thing on the tele either.

Please keep a check on elderly relatives, make sure they are not being harassed. Keep an eye open for any mail that may arrive from a charity, be nosy, ask if they are donating. Olive Cooke was getting piles of the stuff almost daily, she was seen as a soft touch because she found it hard to say no.

Give to charity by all means, but make donations only if you can afford it. Money is tight, I don't have a great deal, but I save up and when I have a donation I send a cheque. Last week I delivered my cheque to Bransby Horses. When I do send a cheque in the post I put a note in for them not to contact me, not to send any begging letters, because I will ignore them if they do.

Above all, don't feel guilty if you can't afford to give on a regular basis, a £1 coin in a box is a lovely gesture.

Glad to get that off my chest. Toodle pip.

Busy at Epworth Show

Hello bloggerettes. You don't see many of these at an agricultural show. A robot came to visit Epworth Show today, and the crowds loved it. Standing over eight feet tall, he entertained the audience with his banter, and anyone who was unlucky enough to get too close got a soaking from his squirty eyes. He was such fun chatting in his alien voice. 

All the traditional attractions were there as well. The funfair.

Lots going on in the produce tent. Gorgeous flowers.

Fruit and veg on display.

Cupcakes in the junior baking section.

Make a miniature garden in a tray.

Crafty bags.

 Flower arranging skills on show.

The usual vintage tractors.

 Veteran and classic cars.

Girls disco dancing troupe.

Birds of prey on show.

And here is our stall in the craft tent.

We did very well today. Sold a load of STUFF, didn't take much STUFF home with us, thank goodness, now I have some space in my spare room. Made loadsa money for the cat rescue.

I hope you all had a lovely bank holiday weekend. We had a shower in the middle of the afternoon, but apart from that the weather held out. We got a bit busy when it rained as everyone came into the tent, good for our sales. A jolly good day and well worth the effort.
Toodle pip.