Meme from The Dunadan

Where were you at these times?

31st August 1997 - Death of Princess Diana.
It was a Sunday morning and I was up early getting ready to go to church when I heard the news on the radio.
Can't remember if I was actually leading the service that Sunday, but imagine turning up to lead the prayers and not be aware of news of this level of importance!

22nd November 1990 - Resignation of Margaret Thatcher.
It was a Thursday so I would have been at school but I remember watching her on the news later - driving away in that car, close to tears.

11th September 2001 - Attack on the Twin Towers.
A Tuesday this time. DH and I were on holiday in Cornwall. We were walking along the coastal path. That day we walked from Porthleven to Praa Sands. About 4pm we came down from the cliff and found a cafe on the beach. There were no other customers and the radio was on. The girl behind the counter asked if we'd heard the news, and told us to listen... Very quickly we realised we had 2 children in the USA. Thanks to the Dunadan who answered the phone at home and then phoned our mobiles, we knew within the hour that both of them were safe.

4th July 1990 - England v Germany - world cup semi final ???????
No idea - Scotland weren't in it and I'd have been thinking about my birthday the next day!

22nd November 1963 - Assassination of President Kennedy
I always thought this was while I was a student and getting ready to go to the Friday night Christian Union meeting - but by this time I had started my first teaching job at the the school I attended as a child. ( I only ever went to one school - for 14 years!)
Iwonder if I'd gone back to Aberdeen on a weekend visit.
One thing I have learnt doing this, is that my memory is not as good as I like to think!

19th April 2005 - Election of Cardinal Ratzinger to the Papacy
I only remember watching it on television when The Dunadan came home from work.
Re reading my diary for this time, I regret to say that I have included 3 cuttings about the previous Pope who had just died, and not a word about Benedict XVI. Apologies...
It was just after dsil had decorated our front room, and just before the wedding of Charles and Camilla.

Out and About - in Ilford

Last Sunday while we waited to be collected, we watched a man across the road. He had just bought a bike in Woolworths next door and rather than carry it home he decided to ride it home. Quite sensible, really!
The one in the blue tee shirt was a passerbye who stopped to help.
Talking about Woolworths did we mention that the one at the Angel has closed down and is metamorphosing into a Waitrose. I shall miss that Woolies - and there is already a Waitrose nearbye.

Later when we came back to get the train home we checked to see if he'd tided up - and he had.

I seem to have lost the photo with the price on it, but I'm glad to tell you that he paid £5o pounds for it - a good bargain!

A new cafe!

As you approach through the bed linen department the first thing you notice is the lowere level - how did they do that? Evidently it was always like that,but that bit was behind the scenes.
Look carefully at the top of the stairs to see the little lift which only goes down 3feet but makes life so much easier for wheelchairs and buggies.( I was going to say puchchairs but CassCass would tell me off!)


As well as normal tables and chairs, there are some very smart leather bucket type chairs and several settees.
Then there is a good view of the road outside and I took this photo for Evie to see her old college - side view.

Margaret's Visit

As you can see I didn't do very well with photographs on this occasion. We had various outings though. We walked across Hampstead Heath ( just missing the rain while we were in the cafe at Kenwood), we went to Sainsburys (!), we walked along the Embankment from London Bridge to Tower Bridge, on Sunday afternoon we walked along the New River Walk to have a cup of coffee in an expensive cafe on Upper St, and on the Monday we went to Bluewater where I bought some Sharpie pens and Margaret bought nothing!
No wonder I feel tired now! but I think we had a good time. There wasn't much sun, but only a couple of showers of rain and we were inside both times.

Whose humour is this?

One day this week I turned on the bath water and made the mistake of going to talk to my sister who is visiting. Result: far too much hot water. Need to get rid of some of it so rather than scald my delicate hand, I was resourceful and fetched a wire coat hanger.
Later this notice appeared beside it. In case you can't read the very last line it tells you that L'hotel du Swishe et Poshe is to be found in Paris, Rome and Mosse de la Side!!

Growing up

I thought that those in foreign parts might like to see how their nephew is growing - inspired by baby Jojo and baby Luke!

Who does this face remind you of ?!

Last Sunday afternoon we visited The Museum of Lincolnshire Life. It was one of the best of its kind. First of all there were a series of rooms, the nursery, the kitchen, the bedroom and so on. We had good fun pointing out the things that our parents or grandparents had in their homes.
Then there was an extensive section about the Lincolnshire Regiment. I included the picture about the battle of Lexington -in the American War of Independence because thats where I am up to in the book I am reading - the final one in Diana Gabaldon's Voyager series. This is the only place I have ever seen a comprehensive collection of British Army medals.
The prams and bikes followed - a pennyfarthing and a boneshaker with a real bell.
There was a large section on farm equipment. You can see the farm cart and below the ploughshares.
And did you know that tanks were originally designed and made in Lincoln. They had the Flirt 2 on display, with an interesting video about playing nearby.
We walked along a 'street' of shops - as they used to be. There was a chemist's, a basketmaker's, a post office, a draper's, a grocer's and a woodworker's, among others.
Finally upstairs we saw a Victorian school - pictures of which may appear here.
I look forward to visiting this museum again, and highly recommend it to you!

views from the B&B window.

Lincoln Castle

Seen around Lincoln

Broughton

An open garden on the way home - such a surprise among the bleak Border hills! I remember Granny Jean telling Grandpa to go slow round the corner so she could see the flowers - and that was more than 40 years ago!

Melrose

Drying flowers at a National Trust shop in Melrose

The original Manor

A visit to where I used to live ( including the extensions by the present owner.