The weather forecast today wet and cold but it is promising that today will be the last day of “unseasonable weather”. We will see.I cleaned out the spare room to fit in the piles and piles of students paperwork. I had intended going for a walk but it was just too miserable with on and off rain.
A picture of Jack “working out”!
Jack “working out”
Torin and Scarlet
Thought for the Day – “Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~Francesca Reigler
The best bargain of the day, Debenhams have their Big Blue Cross Weekend with many bargains. Order today or tomorrow and receive an additional 10% off. It works, I have ordered something this morning. Free Delivery too!
Mal was coughing and spluttering all night again and we were both up at 5am! So, I went to Westwood to get some Berocca, cough medicine and throat pastilles, lemons and honey…kill or cure! I went into Marks and Spencer to get some of their squeezy bottle honey. Every time I buy some I have the same problem. For some unknown reason, the cashier has to enter a different stock number and the expiry date???! I thought honey never went “off” anyway. I bought two bottles so that added to the confusion as none of the cashiers can read the labels as the writing is too small! While I was in there I noticed they had their meals for £10 offer again, so of course I had to get that…..a 1and 1/4 kg rotisserie chicken, vegetables, desert and a bottle of wine, all for £10! Chicken tonight!
Thursday is one of three days of the week a bus runs to the caravan park (only there and back once during the day) and as it started hailing, I caught the bus back, with my bus pass. It was nice to meet up with others from the park as it is quite a nice little community here.
By the time I arrived back the hail had stopped and the sun was out.
In the afternoon we went for a walk and found a lot of comfrey (knitbone as some know it ).
Comfrey
Thought for the Day – “Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.” ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr
I’m not sure what time the dawn chorus started but the birds woke us up at 5.15am and that was it, we were up! Now we have moved caravans and we have a lot of trees around us, there are a lot of birds. Mal has a cold and had been coughing a lot of the night.
Good news today that EIGHT of Thanet’s beaches have been awarded the prestigious Blue Flags, in recognition of their high standards and water quality.
The district has more flags than anywhere else in the country.
We had some interesting photos from our “house looker-afters”, one of our plants in the garden has quite a growth in the centre! All sorts of things happen when we are not there!
Everyone is shocked by the killing in Woolwich. I have to say the man seemed more like a mental patient and watching the news it was also shocking to see other people just walking past carrying on with their business.
Thought for the Day – “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ~ Winston Churchill
We only ate half of my birthday cake and Torin didn’t want us to leave it there, so we brought it back with us. We had it in a box but woke up to find it covered in ants….it is now in the bin!
We were up early and as we have our annual passes for Howletts, we drove over there ready for opening time. I think we were the first ones in. It only takes about 20 minutes for us to get there.
On our last visit we saw the first appearance of the two hand reared Siberian Tiger Cubs and they were playing with the keepers. Now sadly there is only the female Arina. Her brother Kazimir had epilepsy from birth and died when he was only 7 and a half months. The keeper told us that Arina cried for 2 days. Arina has problems too with brittle bones and has already had one operation and she limps. She will be undergoing more treatment as she gets older. But she is beautiful. She kept rolling on her back as if she wanted someone to tickle her tummy.
Arina
We walked around more and stopped at the gorillas. They fascinate me and always have. One of them just sat by the fence and stared at me, so I made the most of it and took photos of him. Then suddenly he jumped up, took a handful of poo-ey straw and threw it straight at me. I stank! He obviously didn’t like me taking photos. Of course Mal thought it was hysterical. I had to wash my coat when I got home.
Cheeky Gorilla!
Meanwhile Mal was keeping the baby gorilla entertained. He beat his chest, so Mal did. He ran up the side of the cage, so Mal ran and then he started copying everything Mal did. I think he was bored!! Anyway, it was a good day apart from my smelly coat! Back home and we had to take the rental car back.
Thought for the Day – “An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” ~ Martin Buber
After such a beautiful warm day yesterday, we woke up to rain. Mal was up early and started his work, obviously to keep ahead, having had three days away from it.
We planned to go to the zoo but really didn’t fancy getting soaked, so I went shopping and Mal worked again. I also had a walk and was surprised to see primroses and bluebells. It seems very late this time in May, I guess due to the bad weather this year.
Thought for the Day – “Flowers…..are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I think it was about a quarter to two when Torin and I managed to get to bed and I don’t think I was very receptive when Mal brought me a cup of tea at 8 o’clock. In fact I felt so bad, I didn’t get up until 11!!
I thought it was best to go and get some air, so we went for a walk with the kids on their bikes.
We then watched the MotoGP. Torin and Jack are motor bike mad and Scarlet just had to put up with it!
This was followed by an enormous roast dinner and all too soon, we were packing again to drive back to Margate.
It was my birthday and so everyone piled on to our bed to help open my presents. I had some lovely things.We then had breakfast and prepared a picnic and went off to Wrest Park. It wasn’t the warmest of days but the kids were fine running around.
In the evening we went to the Dragon King in Letchworth. We always used to go to Aroma in Stevenage but it has closed down but it’s nice having a buffet which meant Scarlet and Jack could choose what they liked and of course they also had a chocolate fountain there!
Back home and Grandad brought out a Birthday cake, which we all managed to eat a slice of (after that enormous Chinese!)
We had a few drinks. Mal went to bed and Torin and I stayed up chatting, well, we don’t see each other that often. We had some wine and then we started on the Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey! Rhys and Lou had bought me a bottle for my birthday! It is difficult to get hold of.
A really lovely day.
Nanny, Scarlet & Jack at Wrest ParkTorin, Scarlet and Jack at Dragon King
