Was so pleased to see the Duke of Edinburgh back in the thick of it at the Trooping of the Colour yesterday. I have to say though he didn't look as robust as he usually does, which is slightly worrying.
Well my car passed it's MOT but of course, as with everything I do, there was a hitch. My front number plate had become stained after water got in between the clear plastic front and the white plastic backing so the day before we nipped along to a garage and got new ones as we feared the staining might fail. Imagine my surprise then when the tester failed me, on my number plates. Apparently the new ones broke the tougher number plate regulations because they didn't have solid lettering. Closer inspection showed that the lettering on these plates were made up of a series of cross hatchings instead of solid block colour. A quick trip home and we returned with old number plates attached to be passed after the tester did a quick check. Needless to say the new plates will be returned and a return of money demanded. I'm still going to get new plates but from somewhere else and I'm going to check them throughly before accepting them too. Do you want to know the really crazy thing? Peter got new number plates from the same place and in the same style just before his MOT. His car number plates were deemed legal. Seems different tester different rules.
So crisis averted we returned home again to find Laurence waiting for us. He has a key so he was in the living room chatting to Andrew who was busy recounting the saga of Mum's MOT. Every time I see Laurence now he seems to have grown bigger and proudly told us that he can now bench press two hundred pounds. The two of us standing side by side is almost comical, I must get a picture taken next time we are together so you can see what I mean. Everything is fine in his world and there is even a hint of a girlfriend, though he gave very little away.
Of course the cats decided to disgrace themselves during his visit. Just as we sat down to succulent, juicy home made burgers there was a commotion at the cat flap and in charged Smirnoff complete with feathered friend. After a lot of persuasion we managed to get Smirnoff to release the bird which to our surprise was still alive and extremely pissed off. Laurence grabbed it and I gave it a quick examination to find, apart from damp feathers, it appeared unhurt. So with cat flap locked Laurence charged up the garden and deposited it under a bush, getting a nasty peck for his troubles. Drama over we opened the cat flap and sat down to continue our meal. The cats seemed to have forgotten the bird and circled the dining table like sharks waiting for tidbits. Enjoying the food and conversation we didn't notice Tarmac had slipped away until we heard another commotion, this time on the patio and saw Tarmac with a bird in his mouth, I swear it was the same one. Smirnoff saw it at the same time and made a charge for the cat flap, Andrew managed to stop him and I slipped out of the patio doors to try and release the bird. I was too late, this time it was definitely dead. It is now residing in the bin, I knew one of the cats would eventually eat it but I also knew they'd be sick afterwards, they always are, so I saved myself a job.
Today, although windy, the sun is out and the back garden is warm in the shelter of the patio so I'm taking my chances and planning an afternoon of reading, snoozing and watching the weeds grow. I no longer get stressed about weeds. They are after all just flowers growing in the wrong place and some of them are quite pretty. I've decided that my gardening efforts this year will center around keeping the grass cut and stopping things getting too overgrown. The weather being as unpredictable as it is there is very little else I can do. This time next year I might be post transplant and able to do all the things I want to do myself or I'll have won the lottery and employed a gardener. You've got to remain positive about these things.
Talking of being positive my cold remains a nuisance but doesn't appear to have got any worse. I'm hoping that this is all it is going to be.Being out in the fresh air yesterday certainly helped more than lying on the settee with a box of tissues so I'm employing the same tactic today. With a bit of luck the wind will blow my germs away and I'll be back to normal tomorrow.
Well my car passed it's MOT but of course, as with everything I do, there was a hitch. My front number plate had become stained after water got in between the clear plastic front and the white plastic backing so the day before we nipped along to a garage and got new ones as we feared the staining might fail. Imagine my surprise then when the tester failed me, on my number plates. Apparently the new ones broke the tougher number plate regulations because they didn't have solid lettering. Closer inspection showed that the lettering on these plates were made up of a series of cross hatchings instead of solid block colour. A quick trip home and we returned with old number plates attached to be passed after the tester did a quick check. Needless to say the new plates will be returned and a return of money demanded. I'm still going to get new plates but from somewhere else and I'm going to check them throughly before accepting them too. Do you want to know the really crazy thing? Peter got new number plates from the same place and in the same style just before his MOT. His car number plates were deemed legal. Seems different tester different rules.
So crisis averted we returned home again to find Laurence waiting for us. He has a key so he was in the living room chatting to Andrew who was busy recounting the saga of Mum's MOT. Every time I see Laurence now he seems to have grown bigger and proudly told us that he can now bench press two hundred pounds. The two of us standing side by side is almost comical, I must get a picture taken next time we are together so you can see what I mean. Everything is fine in his world and there is even a hint of a girlfriend, though he gave very little away.
Of course the cats decided to disgrace themselves during his visit. Just as we sat down to succulent, juicy home made burgers there was a commotion at the cat flap and in charged Smirnoff complete with feathered friend. After a lot of persuasion we managed to get Smirnoff to release the bird which to our surprise was still alive and extremely pissed off. Laurence grabbed it and I gave it a quick examination to find, apart from damp feathers, it appeared unhurt. So with cat flap locked Laurence charged up the garden and deposited it under a bush, getting a nasty peck for his troubles. Drama over we opened the cat flap and sat down to continue our meal. The cats seemed to have forgotten the bird and circled the dining table like sharks waiting for tidbits. Enjoying the food and conversation we didn't notice Tarmac had slipped away until we heard another commotion, this time on the patio and saw Tarmac with a bird in his mouth, I swear it was the same one. Smirnoff saw it at the same time and made a charge for the cat flap, Andrew managed to stop him and I slipped out of the patio doors to try and release the bird. I was too late, this time it was definitely dead. It is now residing in the bin, I knew one of the cats would eventually eat it but I also knew they'd be sick afterwards, they always are, so I saved myself a job.
Today, although windy, the sun is out and the back garden is warm in the shelter of the patio so I'm taking my chances and planning an afternoon of reading, snoozing and watching the weeds grow. I no longer get stressed about weeds. They are after all just flowers growing in the wrong place and some of them are quite pretty. I've decided that my gardening efforts this year will center around keeping the grass cut and stopping things getting too overgrown. The weather being as unpredictable as it is there is very little else I can do. This time next year I might be post transplant and able to do all the things I want to do myself or I'll have won the lottery and employed a gardener. You've got to remain positive about these things.
Talking of being positive my cold remains a nuisance but doesn't appear to have got any worse. I'm hoping that this is all it is going to be.Being out in the fresh air yesterday certainly helped more than lying on the settee with a box of tissues so I'm employing the same tactic today. With a bit of luck the wind will blow my germs away and I'll be back to normal tomorrow.
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