Foot tapping happy music

Hello. the only money saving tip I'm going to give you tonight is get rid of your TV set, stop paying for a licence, and get yourself onto Yoootooob, cause that's what I've been doing tonight. There's tons of entertainment and it's all free, apart from paying for your broadband.

Have a butchers at this. I love the way they put piano's in public places and anyone can play them. We had a piano when I was a kid, I wanted to learn to play it but we couldn't afford lessons, so I never did get the hang of it. Some seem naturally gifted to play music, but I wasn't.

I challenge you to keep your feet still while you listen to this.



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

Happy St Valentines Day

Hello. It's St Valentines Day so we've got to have a bit of romance. I just love to see people so happy and enjoying themselves. Let's all be a bit sloppy today.



Lots of love to everyone. Ilona xxx

The bright lights of Vegas Village

Hello. I've done my two mile power walk a bit earlier tonight. I started this routine on December 1st so that's 30 miles done so far, plus an extra two miles because I did it one morning as well. It's been interesting to see how the Christmas lights have been multiplying as people have brought them down from the attic and adorned the front of their house. The village looks very pretty now.

This house puts on a really good display every year. Yes some people might think it's tacky and it has nothing to do with Christmas, but the retired Doctor who lives there does it for the children who love to see it. It makes me smile as well, and anything that brightens up the dull cold winter has got to be good. The same little figures come out every year, and I see he has got a few new ones as well this year. I am a big kid where decorative lights are concerned. I love the lights at theme parks and fairgrounds, and the New Year fireworks around the world are amazing. 

I stopped for a few minutes to take these photos.  

The Nativity scene is in a wooden cabinet with a glass front. 

I had an email from BBC Radio Humberside yesterday, asking if I could go on the radio tomorrow morning to talk about ideas for buying Christmas presents. I emailed back apologizing saying I couldn't because I don't buy Christmas presents. This morning an email came back saying could I still go on and talk about not buying presents and making home made presents. Yep, I can do that. So I shall be talking to Burnsy at about 9.40am. You can listen live online if you like, or later on the catchup.
BBC Radio Humberside
Click on listen live. The programme starts at 9am. David Burns is the presenter. And if you are listening live you can email Burnsy and he will read it out.

The old fridge stands in the middle of the kitchen, the space for the new one is clean, it's coming tomorrow between 9 and 12. I hope they don't turn up when I am doing my radio bit. I've got a Tesco voucher for £3 off a £20 shop, so I will be using that to stock it up. I'm off to see the rellies on Thursday, visit and chat with uncle and aunt, and lunch with sis and bro in law. One of my readers is down that way, if you see this and are free, send me an email, and maybe we can meet.

Thanks for popping in. Catch you soon. Toodle pip.

A brilliant night

Hello. I've had a belting night, with these lovely ladies. My frugal living/money saving/living within your means/having a brilliant life on a pension/walking and crafting, talk went down a storm. I took three friends with me from the Crafty Club, everyone was so friendly, and no one got up and walked out, ha ha. There were several textile artists and crafty people in the group, so I hope I gave them some ideas as I showed a selection of my creations. 

On the way back we passed a large Asda store which was still open. I left the ladies in the car while I went in search of chicken for Bugsy cat, as I remembered I was nearly out of it. It was force of habit to look if there was any yellow stickers as I passed by the veg counters. I couldn't believe my eyes, everything was 2p. I had to go back to the entrance to pick up a basket. Veg, salad, bread and milk, eleven items at 2p each. Wow, what bargains, better than Tesco.

I would say it was a brilliant night, and the cheap food was the icing on the cake. Brilliant.
Toodle pip

Colour me happy

Hello. I've just found a fab little vid on yoootooob. I was singing Petula Clark's song to myself today, Colour my world, and thought I'd find it. This version is so vibrant. Take a look, it's fun, it's happy, and full of energy. Brilliant.

Has that got you in a happy mood, it certainly did it for me. My colour photo for today is.......

..... my washing. We've had a lovely sunny day, although it has been quite cold. No grey skies, but frosty on the ground. I wasn't sure if it would dry, but it has. 30 minutes at 30 degrees, same as I do all my washing, I never change the dials.

If you can read upside down you might be able to make out the logo on the front of the red and yellow teeshirts, this gives away the age of them. I started the Lady Truckers Club in 1986, we couldn't afford teeshirts at first so a company sponsored us and provided them. Once we had enough money in the kitty a couple of years later, we were able to afford our own, without company advertising on them. So these teeshirts are about 25 years old. That's good going isn't it, they have hardly faded at all. I wear them all the time, usually two or three layers in the winter, and singly in the summer. I wear teeshirts every day because I find them so comfortable, and best of all, I don't have to iron them. Ironing is banned in this house.

I had more of the pasta for lunch, but still had some left, so I made up half a mug of veg gravy in the microwave, cut up four nutty patties into small pieces, put it all in a pyrex dish, grated some cheese over it and microwaved the lot. My dinner for tonight. Eee by 'eck it were greet.

Are we all back to normal now? All decs put away for another year. I was going to get mine out but in the end I couldn't be bothered. All done and dusted, yeah, great. Now lets get on with this new year we have ahead of us. I'm off for a barf. Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip.

It has to last you

Hello. I had an idea of what I would write about today, but reading an article on the BBC news web site has changed all that. What I read has not only surprised me, but shocked me.

A few weeks ago, when the weather was warm enough to do a bit of gardening, I was out on the front trimming my hedges. It's a very relaxed community round here, people have time to stop and chat. A neighbour from up the road was passing, she was on her way back from the doctors surgery. It's also a medical centre and a dispensary, so a one stop shop for minor ailments. We are lucky to have that facility so close, I pick my hearing aid batteries up there.

My neighbour was complaining that they weren't being very quick about dispensing her medication, she had dropped the prescription off some days before and expected it to be ready. She came back empty handed, still not ready for a couple of days. Luckily she hadn't left it till the last minute and still had some tablets left from the last lot she had. Then she asked me if I had had problems getting my meds. I was puzzled, and said I don't take any. She was equally puzzled and asked, 'what, none?' I replied, I don't need any. It got me thinking, is it the norm to take some kind of medication? Surely not!

Then I just read this article.

Nearly 50% take prescription drugs. 

Apparently half of women and 43% of men are regularly taking prescription drugs, according to the Comprehensive Health Survey for England. The cost to the NHS is in excess of 15 billion pounds a year.

A few quotes from the article if you don't want to read the whole thing.

Nearly a third of prescriptions were for cardiovascular disease with more than 65 million prescriptions for tackling high blood pressure, heart failure or cholesterol levels.

Simvastatin - which lowers cholesterol - was the single most prescribed item with 40 million prescriptions.

"That half of men over 65 are taking cholesterol-lowering medicines reflects the high risk of cardiovascular disease in this group.

"Stopping smoking, being a healthy weight, eating more vegetables and fruit, and being physically active reduce people's risk of these diseases, for people who want to avoid taking medicines."

I find these statistics pretty shocking, I didn't know there were so many people popping pills. I blame all the junk food that's everywhere nowadays. It's too easy to get hold of. Jeez some people must have pretty rubbish diets. I know some of you are going to shoot me down, some illnesses are down to genetics, and yes they are, but surely not all of them. Surely some of it is down to what we put in our mouths. 

So, a percentage of the 50% who are taking meds, do so because they inherited some of their problems from their parents, but that means the rest who are being propped up with pills have ailments that are self inflicted. I'm struggling to get my head round this. I know what's bad for me, I eat crap and I am crap, so I try not to. 

A few years ago I had to have a camera down my throat, not a very pleasant experience. Things weren't working well, feeling sick, bloated, and lethargic. Somewhere on this blog is a photo of my duodenum, it looks lovely and clean, not a blemish on it. Some people thought that was a gross picture to publish, buy hey ho, you get me, inside and out. Thank goodness that my sicky state was down to my samey boring diet. As soon as I knew that, I could take steps to improve matters, vary it a bit more, make changes. Bingo, that was the answer. The cake thing last week was a reminder, OMG I shouldn't have done that, but now I am back on track. I will not buy a whole cake again. A small one maybe, but it has to be reduced, ha ha. 

Please please look after your health as best you can. It is the most important thing in your life. Love your body, love how it all works, love your heartbeat, love every part of it, and don't abuse it. It has to last you. 

Toodle pip. 

Mondays mutterings

Hello, my second visit of the day, did you like the doggy story, I've a pile of wet tissues here. 

On my way  to the chat and craft this morning I passed numerous plastic boxes full of  tins and glass awaiting the recycling collections, all left on the kerbside. I'm such a nosey sod I peer in to see what people have been eating and drinking. There was one box full of coca cola cans, full to overflowing . Either 25 people have two cans each, or one person has a serious addiction. Many of the sturdy plastic boxes look in a disgusting state, with sticky gunge splattered all over them because people can't be bothered to swill their empty containers out before they toss them in. Yuk, revolting. I pride myself in my clean box as I put it out on the front. Jars and tins are washed and separated to make the job easier for the operatives who travel in the back of the truck and have to sort them into the correct bins while the vehicle is moving. They must stink to high heaven when they get home from a shift, splashed by the gubbins which inevitably finds it's way onto their clothes. Well done to our bin men, they do a grand job.

Passing through the churchyard on my way to the village hall I came across an enormous dog turd next to the footpath. Yes even in our lovely village we have morons who think it's ok to watch their dog crap where ever it wants to, then walk away and leave it. I wanted to draw attention to this pile of poo so I picked up a few sticks that had blown down off the trees, and stuck them in the ground in a circle around it. I don't suppose it will make a blind bit of difference to the person who left it there, if they happen to be passing that point and see it, but it makes me feel better. I think I'm going to make some little flags and mark out all the piles of poop I see, and hope that those responsible will think again. Probably wont, I don't think there is much chance of that happening, unless pigs learn how to fly. 

After the crafty club I walked round to the mobile library which is parked next to the medical centre. Stan the man was on today. With all the council cut backs we are down to one van and one man, which is usually Stan unless he has a day off or is on holiday. At least they haven't cut down on our visits, we still get the van twice a day every Monday. 

Stan is a friendly sort, in fact he is a very nice man and if he wasn't already snapped up I might be interested. We always have a natter and a laugh. He talks to me while I am choosing my books. The non fiction section is not very big so I go along the rows reading titles out to him, and he tells me if it is new or not. There are always lots of cookery books, so we had a discussion about food. He said he doesn't eat out very much because of the small portions you get, he likes his plate full. I tend to agree with that. We have a very posh award winning restaurant not too far away and the portion sizes are minuscule. You've probably seen something similar, stack up a few bits of food in the centre like a balancing game, and leave a trail of drizzled red blood sauce swirling around the rest of the plate. I reckon that if the food is of the high calorie stodgy fattening type then that's all you should be eating anyway, but if it is the go straight through you in half an hour  vegetarian type, than you can eat as much of that as you like. Pile it high, that's what I say. Stan seems to be eating the right food anyway, he looks quite fit. 

Right, onto the pics. Four more small bowls I've made, for the crafty stall at our Christmas Fair. They are  covered in shimmery organza.  

 If anyone is making these, it is easier to get neat corners if you use felt for the backing.

This is a bigger one. The backing is a piece of red cotton sheet which needs a double hem.  

Going round and round in ever decreasing squares sometimes make the fabric pucker a little, it's important to try and keep it flat while sewing.

Hey, look at me, I've got an early Christmas prezzie. New fingerless gloves hand knitted by lovely reader Shabana. Thank you so much, they are perfect. I am mighty chuffed.

That's enough of my ramblings for one day. I am seeing some comments from new readers, or maybe you have been reading for a while but haven't commented very often. I try and remember names. Thank you to those who told me the name of the exotic fruit, I knew you would know the answer. Tonights dinner was the rest (5) of those chick pea patties, with steamed potatoes, brussels sprouts, and parsnips.
Toodle pip

I do look after me teef

Hello me hearties. My nice lady dentist Emma has had a good prod around and given me a clean bill of health, me gnashers are good for another year. She asked me lots of questions about my lifestyle, drinking, smoking, how often do I brush my teeth, how often do I floss, and which toothpaste am I using. I have very low risk of tooth decay, gum disease, and oral cancer. I have scored a zero, meaning I have healthy gums. Whooopeeee. My teeth are not perfect by any means, with two crowns, a four teeth bridge, and several fillings this is as good as it's going to get, and I am hanging on to what I have. If anyone overseas is interested in how much a dental check up costs here, it's £18.50. My practice has both private and national health options. For most things I pay the cheaper national health rate, mind you, I haven't had anything done for ages. I went private for the bridge, opted to pay more for a better colour match, and shorter waiting times. They offer the services of a hygienist at £35 a time. I have never been to a hygienist in my life, I have never needed to. 

So, what's for dinner tonight. The usual steamed veg, all out of the garden except the spinach which was on a yellow sticker. I thought I would give these Tesco chicken style strips a try, they are the size of potato chips. I'm not very impressed by them, not much taste and a bit rubbery. I much prefer their veggie burgers. 

I thought you might like some kitty photo's. These are Janets cats, I'm feeding them for her while she is away, a sort of favour swap if you like, she will be feeding mine next week. There are seven cats,  I've got five of them here. This is Teddy, Janet raised him from a tiny kitten when he came into rescue, then she kept him.

Mr Beasley or Mr B as we call him, wouldn't stay with his owners when they moved home he kept wandering off. After picking him up and taking him back several times they had to admit defeat and he was put up for adoption. You can see where he ended up. We are not supposed to keep our rescue cats, but sometimes we do, ha ha.

I can't remember the names of the others, they are written down on a menu plan, each one has their favourite food.

I sat and watched the tele with them tonight, they are all lovely.

Because I was at the dentist this morning I missed what they put into the skip. By the time I got back, some traveling people in a van had stopped to ask if there was any metal. The owner said they could take it. But, they not only took the metal they took a load of other stuff as well, cheeky beggars. Anyway, after they had gone, the owner put a large box in the skip, and it was full of soft toys and dolls, so I nabbed it quick. These will be ideal for selling on the stall at the Christmas market.

I put some of the bulky items in my car this morning and after I had finished at the dentist I went to Lindsey Lodge Hospice shop with it. They were chuffed to receive it.

It's late so I am off to bed, it's been a busy day. Sewing has been put on hold for the moment, I must start getting a few things together for my adventure. Catch you tomorrow.
Have a laugh with Pam

Toodle pip

You have two choices.

Good evening. I am dead chuffed when I get complementary emails dropping into my 'in' box, it puts a big grin on my face and gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Such a lot of you tell me I'm an inspiration, well let me tell you it works both ways, you are an inspiration to me. From the lengthy comments and emails you send me, I get an insight on what's going on in your world, and there are a lot of people who are far more talented and cleverer than I am. That's a new word I have invented, cleverer :o)) 

I get inspiration for blog posts from you. This quote came in on an email recently from a lovely reader.'I always enjoy your blog because it spits in the face of my worst fears- ending up alone in my retirement'.

As soon as I read that I thought, aha, yes, I may be alone but I am not lonely, there is a difference. Living a single life on your own is nothing to be fearful of, lovely reader. You have two choices, if you live in the middle of a town or city and stay indoors all day, you will be lonely, or you can say stuff it and get your coat on and go out and meet people. I have never let my singleness stop me from doing what I wanted to do. When I was a teenager I went long bike rides by myself. Took some sandwiches and had a picnic. When I got a motorbike I went even longer bike rides on my Honda 125. I once set off from my home in the Midlands, kept on going, and ended up in Aberystwyth. I was only there about half an hour when I had to set off back. Boy was my bum sore that day, ha ha. 

I wanted to go a bicycle ride in France so I booked myself on a coach trip. They wouldn't put my bike in the boot so I had to go without it, and have a walk round Calais instead. I wanted to go to Germany on a coach trip, so I booked it and went. We stopped for a break at Lubeck and I wandered off, then couldn't find the coach. They eventually found me. We went through Checkpoint Charlie to the Eastern side, for a look around. I asked all my mates if they would go on holiday to Moscow with me. No one did, so I went by myself. It was amazing, very cold but amazing. I fancied having a cottage in the Lake District but no one wanted to go with me, so I went anyway. Had a lovely time exploring, in my battered Bedford Viva van. 

Look at me now, all these walks I have done, and days out. I don't wait around for someone else to say, I'll go with you, I get on with it and do it for myself. No one is going to hold my hand. So, I know I have two choices, I either don't go anywhere, or I go by myself. 

So lovely reader, ending up alone in your retirement need not be scary, you have two choices. Stay in, or get out, and maybe join a group, get a dog, do voluntary work, help friends, chat with neighbours, coffee mornings, gardening, join a gym, keep fit classes, there are all manner of things you can do when you are retired. I'm sure lots of our lovely readers will add to the list of things you can do as a singleton. 

Retirement is when you stop living at work, and start working at living. Best of luck lovely reader, you'll be fine.Toodle pip.

Please excuse small writing, don't know how that happened. Too late to start messing around with it now, I'm off to bed. Goodnight.

x

A little bit of nostalgia.

Moving on from the brief  cobbled together post from yesterday, here is me putting a bit more effort into it. A little bit of nostalgia today, it doesn't hurt to look back once in a while. It's good to reflect on what has gone before, but best not to get hung up about the bad bits. I like to remind myself how lucky I am, that I have come through the shit relatively unscathed. 

Scanned pics take no time at all to upload, the editing takes a bit of time due to cropping all the unwanted bits from the outer edges. Sadly this leaves them a bit grainy, but as I haven't the expertise to tart them up further, apart from tweaking the contrast and colour density, these are the the best I can do. So, in no particular order, come take a stroll through the past with me. 

Six Flags theme park at Darien Lake, this was one of 17 theme parks I visited in the USA, on a Roller Coaster Club trip in 2001. I can honestly say it was the best holiday ever. It was manic, dashing from park to park with 100 other people, on two coaches. I was with my boyfriend at the time, he took the pic. 

Yonks ago I did a sponsored hitch for charity. Me and a friend hitched lifts all over the UK, raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. The Kernel Hotel gave us free accommodation, it's no longer there now.

I was truck mad for years. Everywhere I went I looked for big trucks to photograph, the bigger the better. This one belonged to GEC at Stafford.

My friend drove this one, he would ring me up and tell me where he was parked so I could go out and meet him. It belonged to Abnormal Load Engineering, at Stafford. These two were big push and pull jobs with a massive low loader trailer in the middle.

This is me helping out as a marshal at a truck show. Trucks were my hobby as well as my job.

Hey, look at me getting my hair done. I was invited to go to London for the day to take part in a makeover for Chat magazine. It was great fun.

A bit of larking about here. A sunny Sunday afternoon with nothing to do. My friend came to show me his new bike, so I said, lets take some photo's, I will be the model. I had my own bike at this time, but my Honda CX500 Custom was not as big as this beast.

There was an interlude in my driving career when I left full time employment and became self employed. I didn't buy a lorry, but hired out my services to drive for other people.I joined the Business Club in my town and we had an exhibition in a hotel. This is my stall laid out displaying my certificates, touting for business.

In my spare time, when I had any after working 60 hours a week, I took the Lady Truckers stall out to the truckshows. I had a small caravan hitched up to my Ford Cortina which was my base for the weekend. By this time I had become quite famous so there was a steady stream of visitors calling in to chat. It was great fun.

There was a firm in Derby called E & A West that I worked for, it was a British Road Services contract, we delivered chemicals in tankers. They had an open day and invited all their bigwig customers. They took me off the road for the day and I had to dress up and look smart, stand in front of my lorry, meeting and greeting.

Ha ha, this shunt vehicle was no looker. Me with the tight jeans and big hair. Not your average beer bellied hairy arse trucker. 

Two best friends, Carol and me, in the street outside her mum's house.

I'll finish off with this one. Look at the platforms, and the suntan,  real I might add. These young lassies today think they are so so in fashion, sorry, but they are forty years too late. I was just back from Majorca when my sister got married. My dear mum looked lovely. 

So as I end this post I pay tribute to my dear mum, as always I thank her from the bottom of my heart for giving me this life. Today is the anniversary of her passing away. Thank you mum, I love you.
Back tomorrow. Toodle pip.

A lovely afternoon, and a new home for George

Hello, I've had a lovely Saturday. I've been to visit a friend who lives near Nottingham. I met Kate on Down the Lane Forum, a few years ago,and she put me up for a night when I did the long walk along the River Trent. We also met up at Perth when we were both there on holiday. Kate is involved with a lovely group of ladies who knit and crochet for charity. They make up parcels of mainly baby and childrens clothes and send them all over the world, and they also crochet shawls for a hospice. It was great catching up with her, an enjoyable afternoon. 

When I got back I quickly threw a broccoli recipe together. Today is Saturday Night Curry Night. Broccoli, frozen peas, and sultanas in a pan with some water, bring to the boil. Add some Madras curry powder, this was £1.69 for 400 grm from the Asian shop, it's lasting ages. I also added some turmeric, garlic powder, desiccated coconut, and three teaspoons of porridge oats. Just before serving I added two dessertspoons of  plain yogurt.  I couldn't be bothered to wait for rice to cook so I made some cous cous.  

. 

It was absolutely delicious. Not too hot, just right. I guessed the amounts spot on this time. There is some left for tomorrow.

I've just had some good news. Another success for the cat rescue, George has a new home, yipeeeee. He is staying in the village with a lovely family who are known to us. It's a quiet street and they have had a cat before. I am so pleased. The icing on the cake for a lovely day. Thank you to the lovely reader who sent the Sainsbury's vouchers for George's food. There are still some left, so with your permission they will be spent on food for the other four cats we have in the pens. I am a very happy bunny tonight :o))
Enjoy your Sunday, catch you tomorrow. xxx