Mon dieu - Garden Delights

I just went to visit our Postie Barry, and on the inside front cover of his Amateur Gardener is the following ad:

'Create an interesting talking point'? You bet they will! What's with the crazy starey eyes? And the bandana? And the concept as a whole? Wobbly merecats??

Barry has ordered some to go with his Bill and Ben pot people and solar powered glowing ladybird and frog. I am hoping that he is being postmodern and ironic, but fear it is not the case...

Mystique and glamour

I'm really getting into Glamourpuss' no holds barred blog, but she's really hit a chord with her latest entry. Here is a little extract:



The truth is, there is nothing mundane about being a woman. And that’s all that men need to know about us. Glamour is everything, and everything should be glamour. Men aren’t all that good at the details, they prefer the overall impression; when they get on the carousel, they want the ride of their life, and in truth, I think most women want that, too. So, shut yourself in the bathroom and lock the door when you pull out the stray hair on your chin. Never pee in front of him unless urolagnia is your bag. And apart from touch-ups, keep the maquillage application to yourself. Never let a man think he possesses you, for while we love the things that have been ours for years, they rarely excite us, and most of the time, we barely see them, taking them for granted instead. These things, these everyday things are mundane, but the rare jewel that may slip from one’s grasp at any moment is a treasure to be jealously, zealously guarded. Such diamonds can be a man’s best friend, as well as his lover, and they are always, always valued.



This is exactly, precisely, why I became single the last time around. I'd become totally taken for granted. So now I'm asking myself, was it, to any extent, my own fault? Apart from letting him pee with the door open, and getting him to pull out my granny whiskers (so charming, non, to be so easy with each other?), I know that I almost totally gave up doing all the things that make me Me, make me happy, to be there for him. Instead, because I loved him, I made a big effort and sacrifices to take an interest in his world, which ended up with me being always available. And like Glamourpuss says, things that are always there become mundane. No wonder in the end I felt totally unappreciated.

I love the way you learn from each relationship and develop yourself as a person, honing your relationship skills, and finding out who the real you is - what makes you happy, and what you are not willing to put up with. But you need the time out in between to reflect and understand. It must be a very difficult process to do when you're in a relationship. It's taken me a year to get back to being the person I enjoy being. I've learnt to guard my individuality and independence. I'm more confident, happier, I've lost weight without thinking about it, and I'm rediscovering my inner minx. In being true to myself, I'm discovering that there is nothing mundane about being me.

Test drive!

This was us today! Sands drove too but the pics are sun bleached.

Nice motor, non?

Raks posing

Me posing. On my drive the heavens opened. Joys.

Raks again.


That's all I have to say for now, I'm too tired.

Grumpy Old Woman

I love Clare's 3BT very much, but sometimes you just have to grump, so here goes. This will be an anti-3BT, if you like.

1. Bad grammar. Your and you're are not interchangeable, neither are there, their and they're.

2. Commuting is dull. I'd been pepping it up for the past few months by travelling illegally - my season ticket was London to Staplehurst, when it should have been London to T Wells. (This is only a different route for the last 10mins of the journey, and I really couldn'd be bothered to change it. The price was the same for both.) But it expired and my new ticket is for the right route. My flicker of excitement as I approach the station is rapidly dulled these days by the realisation that I don't have to be scared of the conductor any more. Rats.

3. Bloody numpties. Why am I surrounded by them??

Special bonus addition:

4. Cover versions of pop songs. About half of the music they play in the gym is a cover of stuff I remember from when I was at school. Write something new, you bubblegum pop mannequins!!

Long weekend in Scotland

Ivan and Helen organised an amazing weekend in Gargunnock in Scotland. It's near Stirling, and the house belongs to the Landmark Trust. I recommend it for large houseparties, possibly with an Agatha Christie theme. BYOButler!

On Saturday we walked up nearby Ben Ledi (at 800m or so). A good way to work up an appetite! This is us having lunch and contemplating the climb.

Well, some of us contemplating the climb, others just discovering the Best Skimming Stones In The World Ever.

Nearly at the top...

There were sixteen of us and we had a great black tie dinner on the Saturday night. Check out those oryx heads on the walls- there were four of them, and in a normal house you'd have to negotiate them through the door and then share the room with this massive stuffed head with scary beady eyes. In that dining room you hardly noticed them!


Other great things about the weekend:

The weather was amazing

The drawing room with a grand piano which Chopin may have played (along with all the other grand pianos in that part of Scotland, in the space of two week's holiday or something.)

The smoking room and the library

Having an open fire and an old boy in the gatehouse who just waved us at the log pile and told us to help ourselves

The row of bells in the servants quarters, and the bell pulls in all the big rooms

Ria and Jake cooked up this amazing array of curries on Sunday afternoon for an inpromtu feast in the evening

Visiting Doune Castle which is just down the road, which is where they filmed most of the castle scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Chatting to lots of new people about what they do. Mainly they have PhDs in molecular biology, and play a mean Dirty Word Scrabble

Elliot let me drive his Lotus Elise. *:)

Thanks Ivan and Helen for a great weekend!