Unanswerable Questions

From Facebook archives

31 October 2011 at 11:42

Today would have been Phil's 65th birthday.

Which raises all sorts of interesting questions like:-

Would he have retired today or earlier?

What would he have looked like?

What would our life have been like?

How different would my life have been? 

How different a person would I have been leading that life and not this one? 

It's as if my life was a river valley and a glacier came along and completely altered its course and appearance ...

FifiD  Ah shame. Xxx

Ms Exlibris  Oh my goodness....65!  Where has the time gone?  I think of him often, it is good that he is still missed.  Your life would have been different without a doubt but has been richer for loving him and full in many other ways. x x x

Henlady  Thinking of you

Dulcima  I would have been booking him to be a tutor at Nonsuch's "Spring Fling" dulcimer weekend in March, and no doubt he would have been to Nonsuch's weekend at Launde Abbey (just took place a week ago) wreaking havoc a la Cheap Sunnies!

🪕🪕🪕

Today Phil would have turned 77.

I can’t even begin to imagine him aged 77.

I never think about the road we could not take.

Cwmdu Post Office

Facebook Memories threw up this half-term holiday photo today.

29 October 2014

When the boys were little we regularly stayed at Esgair Wen in Cwmdu and found excuses to visit the tiny Post Office and shop most mornings. 

It has a bell that tinkles when you open the door like a proper shop should. 

We went on a whim and were delighted to discover it's still going strong, despite having had no 'phone or internet for three weeks due to a lightning strike.

It's not often you go into a Post Office and get offered a cup of coffee

 

The self-catering accommodation at Esgair Wen was wonderful; but the boys just got too big to share a bed settee. Fester and I were in the double bed on the mezzanine (where this photo was taken from). 

It was really easy to keep an eye on the boys, and relax. The L shaped living room included a kitchen area, and the mezzanine sat on top of the bathroom, accessed through a shared utility area with a washing machine and lots of coat hanging and welly storage space. 

The landlady kept horses, two rescue donkeys and two friendly dogs.

Cwmdu Post Office is still going strong, run by the community together with the Inn, Restaurant and many communal activities.

We visit every time we are down in Carmarthenshire.

Grammar School Girl

We spent the last week of August at a lovely self-catering cottage behind what used to be Tregib Comprehensive, which was formed of Llandeilo Grammar and Llandybie Secondary schools.

So close to home.

When my Mum and Dad were alive the boys and I used to go down home to Carmarthenshire three times a year:  Easter and Spring and Autumn half terms.

Whenever possible we would include a ride on the Gwili Steam Railway.

Since we last went (pre the pandemic) the Railway has been extended from its old base at Bronwydd Arms down to the A40 next to Glangwili Hospital. It has a huge carpark but no new buildings as yet; the ticket office and bookshop are housed in a portakabin and old shipping container.

On arrival we discovered buying tickets is now entirely on-line.  As we got there very early for the first steaming we could wait until just before the train was due to depart to see if there were any seats left.  We spent the time in the second hand bookshop, mostly trying to stop Ferretfingers buying books and other things none of us will ever look at again.  The volunteer looking after the bookshop was very understanding.  Like most volunteers he was around our age.

My mobile rang.

It was one of the girls at Ferretfingers’ day centre.

“Just to let you know the minibus is in for its MOT on Monday and might not be ready at home time, so you may have to come and pick him up.”

“Well it’s very nice of you to call, but we’re on holiday in West Wales and aren’t travelling back until Monday, so the minibus not being available is quite academic really.  But thank you for letting us know.”

“Academic” says the bookshop man in a mock impressed voice “Now there’s a word!”

“Grammar School Girl” I said 

“the last of the ones to go to Llandeilo Grammar School before it went comprehensive.”

“There’s not a lot of you left.”

“No, we’re a dying breed.”

As we walked past the bookshop after our train ride Ferretfingers side stepped me, put on a burst of speed and went in.  I followed, took Great American Railroad Journeys from him for the third time and handed it to the bookshop man.

As he put it back on the shelf he said “Michael Portillo, he’s visited here, lovely man, very polite, just like he is on the telly” 

then with a sideways look “Grammar School Boy of course.”

There’s nowhere quite like Carmarthenshire.

Gift Card Spending

From Facebook Archives

26 October 2022 at 11.44

Ferretfingers had an appointment with the dental technician at 9.10 this morning.   

She's moved from Byker to Kenton so we had to be out by 8.30 to get there on time.   

He was very good allowing her to chip off plaque and polish his teeth.  

His next appointment is for a check up in January.  As we booked the appointment she said "Have a good Christmas": which I repeated to the receptionist when she'd done the paperwork (on the computer).

I think that's the earliest Xmas greeting I've had or given: it must be a record to say it before Halloween.

Then I took him to the day centre; we got there just before the minibus arrived so he wasn't too early.

As I had an Asda gift card I popped in on the way home to buy some screw light bulbs for the kitchen (one has gone so the others will probably follow soon).

Of course I had to have a look around and found a Frozen plate, lunch bag and bottle so had to buy them for my great-niece for Xmas.

And a couple of other things for myself as well.

So spending the £5 gift card cost me £25.

Miss Doozer  Yeesh you're worse than me; once spent over £150 in Eldon Square because I'd got a Marks and Spencer voucher for £50.

On one pair of boots

To be fair I'm wearing them now and they're one of the best pairs of boots I've ever bought.

I think I got a couple of sport bras and a pizza with the M&S voucher.

But I think it was meant for both if us.

I mean, we shared the pizza, so that counts, right?

Contrariness

This little one lasted years

Things are getting to be full of busy for the near future so here’s a contemporary one to be going on with…

Nokias are not what they were; this 'new' one is now playing silly buggers.

It keeps suddenly stopping and asking if I want to update its date and time, fades to grey and all in all can’t be trusted to operate.

Not what you want in a device you keep for emergencies.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm away with the Coven for the weekend, and have things coming up next week that people will want to contact me about.

Great timing what? 

 

All I want from a mobile phone is calls, texts and reliability.  A clock and calendar are handy things to have.  

I neither want nor need a camera (still or video), games or internet access.  

Today I'm getting another (cheap) dumbphone from Argos.

Hopefully the sim will keep people’s numbers when I move it across.

Ernie was good to me this month with three cheques landing yesterday morning.

Last night my loving husband got exasperated with my humming and hawing over the mobiles on the website 

"You're getting as bad as your sisters ... for goodness sake ... spend the money you won this morning."

I found a really cheap simple one (not Nokia) I liked the look of

"That's a tenth of what you won this morning. Buy it."

I've used my Nectar points.

Fond Found Photo

From Facebook Archives…

15 October 2014 at 17:14 

Found this today.

Mum and Dad, Christmas sometime after 1974; I recognise the photo on the tv and know when it was taken.

Mum in normal combative mode and Dad laughing quietly behind his hand. 

I wonder who had said what to her.

I also wonder why Dad isn't sat in his usual mealtime seat - there may have been a game of Scrabble going on.

Paddington  I know this is a fond photo but can you explain the balloon arrangement top left........

Bentonbag  Middlesister was a nurse: she claimed to have done the same on her wards.  I did wonder who might notice it first 😉 

🕰🕰🕰

What strikes me now is that my parents are probably younger in this photo than I am today.

Cat Hurdling

Matilda 1999-2016

From Facebook Archives

14 October 2013 at 12:51

Matilda's latest trick is to stand on the top tread of the staircase and then slalom down the stairs in front of you as you descend; always slightly slower than necessary and a millisecond in front of your leading foot.

I heard this from Fester as he attempted to go downstairs for breakfast:-

"Forf*cksake cat!  Cat hurdling is not what I want to do first thing in the morning"

Do you think cat-hurdling might become an Olympic event?

About Baileys

 

From the Facebook Archives

12 October 2013 at 11:58 

Tylebach - You know a while back I did a post about making blackberry sorbet? 

Well for supper last night I had a lump of sorbet with Baileys poured over and mushed in.

Gorgeous! 

And I slept all well too ...

Tylebach  Oh really?  Baileys over blackberries?   

I will have to try xx

Bentonbag  I'm beginning to think that there is no fruit or dessert that couldn't be improved by having Baileys poured over/into it.

Tylebach  Baileys with Southern Comfort is lush! xx

Bess Cavalier  Have you ever tried coffee made with Baileys rather than milk?

Bentonbag  No - but I'm going to!  I do make an 

ice-cold Baileys milk shake for a summer night-cap.

Bess Cavalier  When we're away with our Medieval 

re-enactment group we make it by the jug and pass it round in the evenings whilst sitting round the campfire.  When I want a cold Baileys, rather than pour it over ice, I get a melon baller and put a couple of scoops of ice-cream in it - doesn't get watery then as the ice melts.

😋😋😋

I adapted Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s raspberry and redcurrant sorbet recipe; well actually just substituted blackberries for raspberries and redcurrants.