Showtime

Once we’d changed there was time for a quick drink before the wedding so I headed into the small bar. There just seemed to be one person struggling to cope with everyone’s order. We gathered in the blazing sunshine until we were called into the small chapel before the service. It was a small and quick service and it was a nice surprise to know that we knew the registrar. I signed the witness book and was the first person to congratulate them. My nieces looked beautiful in their gowns but it was hard to get a photograph of them all looking the same way. Then it was out onto the front lawn for group photographs. Once we’d been served orange juice and Buck’s fizz we retired into the rear garden via the owner’s house; there wasn’t a clear way marked through for us. There was a bouncy castle for the kids and I headed back up to the bar for more refreshments.

The Fleece is being Fleeced!

The Fleece is one of the last remaining traditional Redditch drinking pubs. It’s one of the first buildings that people see on their way into the town, and in the past it’s also been a hotel; a commodity that is much needed in this area. The plan to turn it into a convenience store will only create more coffers for a certain company and chaos for everyone else. The road that it’s based on feeds directly into a very busy roundabout which is dangerous and busy enough as it is. Adding a store will create further congestion as people enter and exit the site. There are already two other convenience stores within walking distance and the road is well serviced by local buses. There are no plans to build any more housing in this area so there is no need to increase the amount of convenience stores. Adding a third will not be convenient for local people. Instead the council should look to encourage businesses to develop the property into a hotel while retaining a facility for local people.

Man of the Manor

Once the groom had been collected, we set off to the venue ourselves; which was Grafton Manor in Bromsgrove. I collected my aunt and we allowed ourselves some extra time as the direct road to Bromsgrove was closed. After zipping through the town centre’s traffic, we climbed a hill to its peak then turned right onto a narrow road which soon became a dusty gravel path. A large lawn lined with trees was placed in front of the manor house, and a few tables and chairs had been set up in the courtyard to accommodate the bar. Our first task however; was to check in. There was a bit of confusion over how many people were booked; what the sleeping arrangements were and the price of the room. Once that was resolved, we climbed a large carpeted staircase up to a narrow corridor where our room overlooked the courtyard below. There was a large bathroom, a sofa, a TV and a large wardrobe together with a small desk holding supplies for tea and coffee. Naturally, we had to request for more…

Skirting Around the Christmas Tree

Mum felt that we needed a new Christmas tree. She felt that the old one was too big and wanted one that would just sit in the corner rather than be on show in the centre of the window. We got a bargain from the supermarket by cashing in our loyalty card points; then as Christmas got closer I thought I’d erect it to make sure it was all in one piece.  She also felt that we needed something to cover the base.  I thought the presents would suffice but she was more worried about needles falling off the tree. You wouldn’t think there’d be that many for an artificial tree, but it got knocked quite a bit as we were decorating. The tree was also flocked, and this fake snow stuff seemed to fall off the tree very easily. So I ordered a skirt which was white and red with a Rudolph pattern on the trim. I couldn’t see what difference it made other than making the tree fancier; and with the presents placed underneath the tree you couldn’t see the skirt at all.

Wedding Rush

It’s a nice day for a white wedding, but there’s just so much to do! My brother’s best man had ran out of space in his car so my brother popped round to drop off a bag for me to take for him. There was plenty of drinking to be done that day so I decided to treat him to a large Wetherspoons breakfast, especially since he was providing dinner and supper. After a ‘last rites’ chat it was time to get the show ready. My brother had to get to the bank to make sure he had enough funds for the hotel while I had to collect a wedding present from work. I got home with two hours to spare but the special wrapping paper I bought wouldn’t cover the photo frame. I knelt in the bathroom with a roll of Sellotape and eventually plugged the gap with their wedding card. Then it was time to get suited and booted in time for the groom to be freshened up and collected.  

Have it Their Way #dreamdiary47

It’s time to take down our beer festival. We all arrive on Sunday morning tired and hungover but ready to start packing our equipment away. There’s a subway sandwich shop in the venue but they’re not open; the lady is only there to clean up from yesterday. Someone points out that there’s another branch just around the corner but they stop serving breakfast soon. I race over and join the queue. As I become the first but one to be served, a thin elderly woman with white hair approaches and asks to cut in. I say no but the line outvotes me and lets her cut in. When it’s my turn to be served the Hispanic-speaking lady isn’t really serving subs; she’s got a large pile of slop consisting of bacon, sausage and baked beans which she just ladles into bread rolls. I try to get money off with my loyalty card but for some reason the till won’t let me so I just pay on my card. On the way back to the venue a work colleague spots me and asks if she can help. As she asks me to wait for her I decide to put my wallet in the glove box of my car, so I put my sandwich and coffee down on the pavement to sort this out. As I lock up a bunch of kids show up. One of them kicks my coffee cup up the pavement while the other picks up my sandwich and lobs it across the road onto the roof of someone’s porch. The man of the house opens the door. He has short white hair and a tall but thin face and reaches up for the sandwich and hands it to me.

Critical Care

It came to a point where Dad needed an operation. It was the best way forward, and he felt that anything would be in his best interest to reduce his pain and make a recovery. After being told it would take place in the afternoon; he was finally wheeled downstairs into theatre in the early evening. We grabbed some sandwiches and settled in for a long night. After waiting in the entrance for a phone call; we decided to camp out in the hallway of the wards and found some comfy chairs next to the lift. Around 10pm I tried to convince Mum to go home and get some rest but she wanted to stay put. I decided that the best thing for me to do was to take the last train home and grab a quick nap; then Mum could call me to collect her when she was ready.

Change Your Sails

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." -Jimmy Dean

Sometimes I feel as if I’m trapped. Every time I try to complete a task, there’s always someone who gets in my way. I either have to delay finishing the task or abandon it altogether to suit them. This happens a lot when I’m at work. After all you can’t predict when your customers come in. But it’s frustrating when this happens at home too. Everyone wants their two pence of me. And often, I have to change course to accommodate their lives too. You see it’s not just me on this planet; though sometimes it would make things a lot simpler if it was. But why is it that they need me more than I need them? If I could put a value on their time I would charge them extra for consulting me; though they’d probably do the same when I require them to fulfil a task too. Instead I must alter my plan to suit everyone, which is why I’ll never have it my way.

A Room With A View

After a few days Dad was moved to a private room for treatment, which meant that he was going up in the world.  He was nearer to the entrance on the ward’s loop which was on a one-way system to avoid congestion. The new room was also on the outside of the loop which meant that we had a view. On one side we could see the traffic passing the hospital. On the north side there was a helicopter pad but I never saw one land during my visit, though my mother did once. As we were closer to the entrance there was less of a walk to the room, and he also saw the doctor earlier and had earlier meals too. We got to know the nurses more who are great at making tea and we even got some leftover ice cream once. Unfortunately, it meant that there was a greater need for the lift; although going down the stairs wasn’t that bad.

Greene King IPA at the Beaconsfield, West Kensington

This was the first pub that we visited as part of a tour from a break from the Great British Beer Festival, which was being held just around the corner at Olympia. It was a corner pub and had a Cask Marque certificate so I was game but not many other people were. The pub obviously hadn’t planned for pub crawlers to pass through; it looked like they thought that people would stay inside the beer festival. It was odd that the beer festival itself didn’t suggest a pub crawl around London either; perhaps the organisers wanted people to stay put or that there were better pubs in the city. In any case, I thought the IPA was fair; and it being a low gravity drink it helped wash away the higher-strengthed beers I’d had earlier ready for the other pubs to visit. It was attractive from the outside, but inside it was bare board with a lot of wood and the atmosphere was bare too. It didn’t give me much incentive to hang around.

Nurse!

The one thing that isn’t going to help you get better in a hospital is an annoying neighbour. It’s the one that thinks that the nurses are slacking off because they’re not in sight and that they should be constantly be there attending to their every need to fix everything. You could be listening to some music on a pair of headphones at night; and you’re just about to doze off when they shout, ‘NURSE! I CAN HEAR SOME MUSIC IN HERE!’. Or it might be that they complain about every little thing; not realising that the nurses have to look after other people in other wards as well. They then constantly complain to you or anyone within earshot that meals are late; they’re not being turned or that their medication hasn’t arrived. Add a bit of cursing before every verb and you’ve got yourself the vilest neighbour that you could hope for.

Mopping it up!

Cleaning PVC floors can often be a nightmare. Firstly, you have to make sure that everyone’s finished using the room so that you won’t be interrupted and that you’ve given it sufficient time to dry. Then, just as you start at the end of the room and work your way back to the door, you’ve realised that you’ve left something behind, so you have to re-enter the room and disturb your handiwork. Not any more though; we’ve got slipper mops! These just slide over your regular slippers and allow you to mop the floor with your feet. We ordered them directly from China as no-where seemed to sell them; but when it arrived the package only contained one slipper. Very odd. I re-read the description and it was definitely in the singular. Perhaps they thought it was a top-up order and we’d already had one slipper from somewhere else. So I placed another order but what with the Christmas and New Year Celebrations; together with Chinese New Year celebrations; we had to wait a long time for the second one to arrive.

Ward Life

It’s a hard life on the hospital ward. Not only are you ill, but often you’re unlucky enough to share your room with other people; each of which have their own ills. You might hide behind the curtains and shut them off, but then you’ve only got what materials your loved ones have brought you; that is unless you’re lucky enough to buy a TV subscription. So you have the curtains open to face the people next to you. Some are up for a chat while others just want to bury themselves away until visiting or mealtimes. And some poor souls are just confused; thinking that they’re in a hotel or that they’ve been kidnapped. They’ll call the police to try and collect them or simply walk out of the fire exit and into the freezing cold. But if they’re going to have someone repetitively do that, then surely they’d be better off in their own room or on an upstairs floor; somewhere where they could be watched more easily?

Trauma

Two of my favourite actors go head-to-head in this one-off drama. It’s a tale of honesty meets privilege as both men battle to retain their status. There’s little physical violence and sometimes the plot does move a little slow. It would have been good to see Jon having a few conversations with colleagues to create more of a conspiracy against Dan. It’s also too close to call as to whether Dan becomes psychotic with his obsession to destroy Jon; or whether he is genuinely grieving as we don’t learn much about him before the stabbing. However, he does doubt himself when he goes to visit the psychiatrist. It’s also a shame that Jon loses his bottle towards the end and becomes honest. Perhaps he folded over the pressure top protect his family. I think it’s great that Dan’s original physical trauma becomes a mental trauma for Jon. Perhaps there could be a sequel where tries to get even?

Birthday Blues

Dad’s birthday was coming up, and everyone had sent him cards for us to take to his hospital bed. I’d made a special trip down to Cheltenham to pick up a specific electric shaver that his friend had recommended. We did everything we could to make it an enjoyable and comfortable day; but let’s face it; when you’re in pain and in a hospital bed then there’s not much to enjoy. We got a balloon sorted before catching the train to show everyone that it was his birthday; and we also got a cake that he could share or give to the nurses if he wasn’t hungry. But he wasn’t in the mood. Perhaps we ought to have gone out for a meal in his honour afterwards. Luckily, we were spared the chore of catching a train back as my brother arrived with his wife, so we got a lift back home.

Building Bridges

‘So our enemy has set up a command post on the other side of the valley?’

‘Yes sir, but a river runs through it. We need to find somewhere to cross to mount an attack.’

‘Ah, but that could walk us into an ambush. We don’t know the terrain in either direction other than what we see. If we do find a crossing point it would take a while to direct us all across; during which the enemy will just fortify their attack from their fort. But what we do have is time.

‘Sir?’

‘At present we have a direct supply line from the coast. We need to keep that flowing directly into the enemy’s fort. If this river flows directly into the sea then there’s a great opportunity to establish a supply base here. We’ll camp here tonight under full guard with scouts posted in either direction of the river. If it’s clear on our side then tomorrow we’ll launch a full artillery advance on the fort. In the meantime we’ll bring a supply ship along the river to construct a bridge while the enemy is under fire.’

‘Brilliant Sir.’

Gal Pals

You might think that these people are cold, or that they’re very close girlfriends. But they’re actually celebrating after working together to achieve a team objective. One old, one young, and one’s in between. They’re quite close in the workplace, but will they see each other now that only one remains. The oldest has left the company to pursue another career but lives locally. To date she has not popped in at all to see the team. The second has left to pursue a new role in a different site; but still pops in to say hello to her friends. But to her former colleagues she wouldn’t give the time of day. And the youngest is still here ploughing away.  Will she ever be in touch with the elder two? Poses say everything. The picture suggests they were close at one time; but today they couldn’t be more far apart.

Inferiority

"Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt

However you work yourself through the ranks; you’ll always have to follow a set of rules laid out by someone else. If there’s a queue at the checkout you can’t just push the person in front of you out of the way. Presidents can’t bomb countries without good reason. There are always consequences from not following the rules. So if you give your permission to follow the rules; that makes you inferior under someone else’s regime. Some might argue that this elegance shown is simply good manners. To truly ignore all the chaos around you and only do what you want to do makes you superior. Is there a point in owning a big red button if you don’t use it? Well, yes as by owning one you can use your superiority to inflict fear on others. But it’s when we can threaten but choose not to that makes us the better person.

Lamenting about Lego

What the heck are these? They’re some sort of Lego cards. I got a free pack every time I spent over £10 in Sainsbury’s; which is isn’t very often nowadays as I’m in there at least twice a week. Each pack has four cards inside. Are they scratch cards to win prizes? Are they trading cards that you swap and collect? Do they contain fact sheets about the Lego sets that you can buy? Or are they Top Trump cards? Why do we want to collect them? I’ve got no idea and it’s a shame that I didn’t open a pack to find out. Eventually I took a picture of them and sent it to a friend of mine who’s Lego mad and bagged them off me straight away. So if they’re prizes then I might have lost out on the deal, but he does bake some very nice cakes.

Whining about Wine

Deep in the marketing office, there’s a need to sell cheap wine. Wine that’s expensively priced and looks posh but costs next to nothing to make. It needs a classy ad to go with it. Nothing to advertise its mellow tones or its origin. Instead there’s great big bass cello tones to make it sound classy and fire spewing out of the bottle. Maybe it’s a hot wine to go with a curry. But there’s not many people that enjoy drinking cooked wine by the glass. All we know is that it’s wine from the devil’s cellar. Does that make it evil? Is it a wine that you drink when you’re ready to sell your soul to the devil? We don’t even know if it’s a strong wine. All they want is for you to go into the shop and see the wine from off the telly and buy it. But why buy it when you can break into a museum and steal a bottle for yourself?

Cumbria's Highest Waterfall

Encouraged by our previous endeavours, we decided to take a trip to Scale Force, which is the Lake District’s highest waterfall. It originally started as a group day out but when we researched the route a bit more it would be a two-hour round trip. We were also running against the clock as we’d booked onto a brewery tour for the afternoon. So we packed Mater and headed off to a National Trust car park just outside a local pub in Buttermere with stunning scenery. We had to keep an eye out for our footpath heading west up the hill; for some reason they don’t like to signpost these attractions so you have to work out their location on their own. After crossing a beck we headed round a hill until we came to two cliffs. It was very difficult to see from afar but we could hear running water and found it after heading through a kissing gate.

The Wedding #scavenger

Lee spotted land. He had to get moving. He didn’t know how long he’d got to get to the altar but he didn’t want to leave anything to chance. He just kept swimming. As he got closer he began to feel for land but every time he stopped put his foot down he pulled his shoulders under. Finally, he reached terra ferma and pulled himself out of the water. The beach was packed with holidaymakers but no-one was paying attention to the man who’d just swam twenty miles to the shore. Lee strolled past groups of families and headed across the beach towards the giant bamboo hut at the very end where people were queuing for drinks, ice creams and all sorts of novelty inflatables. Next to the hut was a large led screen displaying the day, time and temperature. Lee groaned. He’d got five hours and no contacts. He’d have to raise holy hell; but at least he could say that he tried.

A Problem Shared...

Mater was sick of climbing up and down the mountain. He liked to keep track of where everyone was, but he also needed food, meaning that he had to move every now and again. The only way that he could achieve his objective was to create an area where he could safely store some food in his shelter without being disturbed. This would require a constant effort to upkeep; and it was a shame that he couldn’t persuade one of the other goats to do it for him. But he didn’t really have anything to offer them in return. If he could find just one goat that shared his objective then his problems would instantly be halved. But they were content with the humans wading through their territory provided that both parties kept a safe distance from each other.

‘But don’t they disturb you?’ he’d ask.

‘Yes, but they don’t live here. At some point they go away.’

It's hard to Keep Clean

I’ve pledged to wash and vacuum my old man’s car once a month. The vacuum isn’t a problem as we’ve got an old cleaner that my brother used to use. I’ve had various results with the wash; the first time was a disaster as I used washing-up liquid. There were just too many streaks. Later when I got the hose out I got outstanding finishes. But last month I resorted to a bucket wash as I accidentally pulled off the screw that goes into the hose reel. The finish was OK but still a bit streaky on the windows. But last week I needed a quick wash as we were going over to visit a family friend. So it was over to Tesco for the machine wash but as the sun was out and it was Sunday everyone had the same idea. We ended going out with a dirty car and on the way back the car got sprayed by a passing gritter so it became more urgent the following day. So on Monday off I went and there was a busy garage but no car wash queue; mainly because it was closed. Apparently they don’t run it when it gets under five degrees so that there’s no risk of it freezing up. I resorted to paying double the price for a handwash and polish. They did miss a bit but I do love the shine.

Lord of the Goats

Mater was at the top. He couldn’t understand why all the other goats hadn’t cone up this far. Sure, it was windy and the food was on the short side, but the views were amazing. He could see all the other goats from here. It was a shame that he had no way of communicating with them; otherwise he could rally them all to dispense with the humans. If he could persuade just a few of them to cone up here; he could send messages to them all to rally through the holes in the walls that the humans had constructed. But for now, he would sit here and learn the humans’ habits to decide where and when would be the best course of assault. Sometimes the gates would open and a single human would drive by on a roaring metal machine. But mostly they came through in twos or threes with bags of food mounted to their back.

Nurse Paul

Last night was one of the most nervous nights of my night. Mum was on a new form of medication that I’d bought from a pharmacy. She’d been having some trouble sleeping so I got her some Night Nurse. It’s available in medicine as well as capsules, but I thought that the capsules would be more effective. What we didn’t realise that you weren’t allowed to take more than four doses of paracetamol in the same period as well as these pills. After some thought, we’d worked out that she’d taken four pills but only two doses; as I was pretty sure that a dose is the same as a portion. We sat watching TV together waiting for bedtime, until she decided to go to bed early and give these pills a try. Lots of thoughts fled through my mind. What if I’d worked it wrong? What would I do if something went wrong? Fortunately, I was comforted with a loud snoring a few minutes later. I looked again on her a few hours later; and she had woken up. And in the morning, she was asleep for a while but dozing soundly.

Wast Water Wine

We got some great views going up the English hill. It wasn’t too busy so we could walk at our own pace and it was a very clear day. There was just one turn that we had to make to hit the summit and from there it was a gentler climb to the top. But one of the things that we were short on was water. We’d bought enough trail snacks to share and keep us going along with a victory bite at the top. And when we saw the final pebbled trail to the summit we knew we were onto a good thing. But one the view was done we began to get rather thirsty. On the way back, we got close to the stream that flows into Wast Water and decided to climb the rocks to grab sone cool refreshment. It was a bit warmer than we expected but it still had a clear taste.

Best Man #doctorwho

‘So in conclusion Lady Chatterley, I can’t technically move heaven and Earth, so we’ve just sort of flown around the- phone rings Excuse me. Hello?

‘Doctor, do you ever check your e-mail? I’ve sent you this e-vite about five times.’

‘E-mail? Oh, email. Yes, yes, very important stuff. Presses a few buttons on Tardis and downloading 1000+ messages appears on screen. ‘It seems that I get quite a bit of e-mail; hmm, I’ll have to do something about that.’

‘Well, before you start deleting it all, I’ve set a date? It’s at a country manor in Worcestershire.’

‘Ooh, that sounds quite quaint. Actually, do you mind if I bring someone?’

‘Doctor, I don’t care if it’s the Pope or the Queen of Sheba- ‘

‘The Queen of Sheba? Well- ‘

‘Doctor! Please make sure you’re there on our big day. And no alien invasions.’

‘Martha Jones, I promise to be there on your special day. And I will be quite the gentleman. ‘

‘Thank you.’

‘Well, I suppose you’ve got lots of planning to do. Actually, I’m not doing much at the moment; I might just pop over there and let you know how it’s all going. Yes, see you there. Bye!’