Rainbow Green

 

Still on Summer School time over at Jenny’s and we reach the colour green in our rainbow series.

When I was a child living just to the north of London, a shopping treat was a trip to the nearest big town which was Watford. We didn’t have a car back in the sixties and seventies so we always took a bus – or to be more accurate a couple of buses. The reason for taking a couple of buses was because I got travel sick, but only on green buses! And the bus to Watford was green so invariably what would happen is we would get half way, I’d begin to turn green in keeping with the livery of the bus and have to get off for fresh air and wait for the next bus to come along! The link between green transport and travel sickness stayed with me for many a year and I always took green to be unlucky for me, for that reason.

 

This picture is the closest I could get to the actual bus which was number 306, it was back in the day when the bus had no doors and both a conductor and a driver, I used to love the ticket machine that the conductor used!

Ironically when the time came for me to buy a car, my very first car was a Mark 2 Ford Cortina which was – green! The day I collected it I was driving it home and managed to take the wheel arches out by skimming along the side of a removal lorry and on the same day, when I went to fill it with petrol, I managed to flood the boot because the fuel tank had been modified and the tube that went from the filler cap to the tank had become disconnected! I’ve had a Google for a picture but haven’t been successful! After that the irony continued as the next two cars that I had registered in my name were also green – I had more luck with those and no accidents

Y is for…

…Y, a whole lot of words courtesy of The Phrontistery

Yaffingale – a green woodpecker

Yapok - an amphibious opossum of South America

yarmulke - skullcap worn by Orthodox Jewish men (I’ve always wondered what they were called!)

 

Yelek - outer garment worn by Turkish women

Ok – not very inspired from a personal point of view but I wonder what everybody else has done over at Jenny's (as this auto posts I shall be flying high across the Atlantic on my way home *sniff, sniff*)

:::::Hopefully normal service is now resumed and I should be able to go visiting over the weekend!!:::::

X is for…

…X-ray! Sorry, I know it’s lame but I do have a tenuous link in as much as our future daughter in law is studying to be a radiographer which will mean, that, among other things, she will take x-rays!

That is it for this week (I’m still away – this week I think I’ll be in Neosho, Missouri, hopefully Number 2 son has arrived by now, if not I hope he’s behaving himself at home!!)

 

 I may or may not have been subject to airport x-ray as I left the UK!

:::::Thanks for visiting – sorry I can’t call back this week:::::

W is for …

…Woodbridge, a small town not far from home which has a more villagey feel to it. This is short and sweet as I’m setting a series of posts to auto post while I’m away (I think I’ll be somewhere in South Dakota as you’re reading this).

A couple of weeks before we left for our holiday the friend that I call Julie joined us for a trip to Woodbridge and a stroll around the town and a mooch amongst the shops. We chose a weekend where quite a lot was happening and I snapped these people performing a Morris Dance, take a look at the link for a real explanation – I know there are several dances and that they all have meanings but I’m afraid I can’t explain it to you.

John took a photo of Julie and I because, as she rightly pointed out, we hadn’t had a photo together since the children were small which is a considerable time ago!

Check out the other W posts at Jenny’s blog!

:::::Thanks for reading, I’m sorry I can’t return the visit this week:::::

V is for …

 

…vacation – yes I know it’s not been very long since the last one, but it’s been three months since we last went away and I owe to my poor old weary body – and brain – to take a break.

This time we’re off to visit the friends that I described in this post here, the lovely Missouri Arkles. this will be the fourth time we’ve visited with them since way back when  it all started but this year we’re going to be doing something a little different – we’re heading off on a road trip! We’ll fly into Kansas City via Chicago and they’ll meet us at the airport with the plan to head to Mount Rushmore and the surrounding areas for a week and then back to their home in the south of Missouri in time for 4th July!

The plan is for Son2 to join us a week or so later. I say plan because he has unfortunately fallen foul of the US immigration system by deciding that he would like to visit the US for a year. He couldn’t wait to apply until we came back, despite well intended parental advice, and has had his application turned down, all because he couldn’t prove he had a job to come back to after his year is up. As a result he had to reapply for his ESTA which permits us to travel on the Visa waiver programme for up to 90 days and, you’ve guessed it, this was refused as well. However he has a small glimmer of hope, after speaking to a very helpful person at the Dept of Homeland Security, he can apply for a Visa again but with more preparation. Trouble is, he now has 14 days jury service which leaves him very little time to get to the US Embassy in London for another interview – and another big dent in his finances.

So Vacation and Visa all in one post – fingers crossed everybody please, he is desperate for his holiday and even more for his year out!

As ever this is linked to Jenny’s Alphabe-Thursday – pop across for a look at the other entries.

:::::I’ve set the coming weeks to autopost – I probably won’t be able to visit as I’ll have limited internet access ‘cos I’m not taking the laptop, so if you’ve visited me and I don’t repay the visit I apologise in advance:::::

U is for …

…Les Parapluies! OK I’m getting desperate now. When I got to thinking about U all I could think of was umbrella and that got me thinking about one of my favourite paintings, hence Les Parapluies or The Umbrellas by Auguste Renoir. I’m a great fan of the impressionists as a whole but I first came to appreciate Renoir when I bought Rod Stewart’s album ‘A Night on the Town’, I’ve also been lucky enough to see first hand Monet’s garden at Giverny in France and to attempt to replicate some of his paintings in photos.

So, I’ve digressed and perhaps cheated slightly – here are a couple of images to share with you

A panel from Les Parapluies by Auguste Renoir

Cover of A Night on The Town – otherwise known as Le Moulin de la Galette also by Auguste Renoir

Of course I could always have written about my walk to work today under my umbrella in the pouring rain – hmph flaming June, eh??!!!!

Check out the other Us to see how desperate people are getting now that we are near the end of the alphabet!!!

T is for…

…Twitter!!! Described in various circles as the micro-blogging site and in others a complete waste of time, it was Twitter that first got me blogging.

140 characters is all that Twitter permits for each update although the clever amongst us simply update as many time as we need to to get our message across!

I started Tweeting (as us Tweeters/Twitterers call it) early in 2009. I found myself a few celebs to ‘Follow’ and some strange folk followed me  - I hadn't a clue who most of them were. One of them, a certain @jaydubblah, started following me because she thought I was somebody else but when she discovered my true identity, she stuck by and didn’t abandon me. Our virtual friendship has gone on to become real as regular readers will recall. Then there was @farctum who appeared one day having recognised me from my photo as an ex work colleague – I have to say that her avatar was not particularly flattering or easily identifiable because it was a green blob!

As I’m writing this I realise that there is so much that I could tell you about Twitter but I think, if you don’t already use it, you need to investigate it for yourself. I must warn you though of the possible side effects – one of which is smiling insanely to yourself when something tickles your fancy and you couldn’t possibly explain it to a non-tweeter!

So I’ll leave you with a couple of images of Twitter – the standard web version and, I think, the best way to Tweet Tweetdeck so go on, sign up, follow me!!! Oh – I’m @easternsparkle by the way!

 

 

I prefer Tweetdeck – you can see more of what’s happening!!

Don’t forget to hop over to see the other Ts at Jenny's!

R is for …

…Rocking All Over The World!! I’m really sorry but that is a bit of a tenuous link to a great event that happened on 13 July 1985 – Live Aid! Status Quo kicked off the day with Rocking All Over The World hence the R link. Sorry – I’m rambling again. Last week for Q Kathy wrote about Queen – the rock band, not the monarch and mentioned Live Aid, I commented that I was there and she said I had to blog it! I figured that it was too late for L so I needed another way in and it came to me! Hence this post.

So, way back when in the days of no internet or mobile phones – remember that? Don’t tell me you’re all too young! The tickets went on sale early one morning and I have a feeling they were £25 which was hellishly expensive back then, anyhow we managed to get tickets and along with two friends John and I set off for Wembley for what was set to be the experience of a lifetime. I am so glad to be able to say that I was there and a couple of years ago when the DVD was released our eldest son asked for it as a Christmas gift we were only too pleased to be able to share our memories with him.

The big thing about the day was my realisation that Queen were probably the greatest rock band – ever. Before that I had been quite dismissive of them as I was more interested in Motown and the like.

Son 1 became a fan of Queen in his early teens downloading (shock horror) as many tracks as he could, of course Freddie Mercury was gone by then but his music lived on. We subsequently went as a family to see the stage musical ‘We Will Rock You’ which tells a story based on the songs of Queen and more recently to see Queen and Paul Rogers in concert which was fantastic. So that was a very tenuous letter R but I hope you’ll excuse me!

Let’s see what the other students have done for Alphabe-Thursday this week!

Q is for …

…, err, queue! That’s right give us a line of people and us Brits will join it! Generally we are a polite bunch and don’t take offence too easily but if somebody tries to jump in in front of us, heaven help them! We will turn into a baying crowd, demanding the queue jumpers head on a plate or more. In recent years the ‘zig-zag’ queue has been introduced – you know the type with several posts joined together with a seatbelt type fabric so everybody starts off at the same point and then spits off at the end. At least  that way you seem to move along most of the time and there’s no tendency to hop across the different lines. However, I have to say that nobody does queues quite like the American theme parks, they’re very clever the way they switch the direction of the line to give the illusion of moving faster – always amazes me!

Anyway, enough of my waffling on about people standing in a line – let’s have a look at Jenny's other entrants in Alphabe-Thursday

P is for …

…photographs! To be honest I had several things in my mind for P but I’ve opted for photo’s because they capture all that is dear – and some things that aren’t!

Not many words this week, I’ve decided to share a couple of very old photos with you and one more recent which I just love from our recent holiday – please excuse my little indulgence!

I think I was probably about three when this one was taken with my Mum and my brother 

I know I was three-and-a-half here – it was my Aunt & Uncle’s wedding – the only time I was ever a bridesmaid – I can remember having my hair curled and crying because it hurt when they took the curlers out!

John & I on one of the formal nights on our last cruise – don’t try to count the chins!!

P is also for present! As I’m celebrating the first anniversary of the Ramblings I’m hosting a giveaway to visitors to this post (via the link) – if you leave me a comment or a link to your very first post in the Mr Linky at the bottom, I’ll enter you into the draw for a surprise gift (it’s a surprise to me as well as I haven’t bought anything yet!!)

Don’t forget to hop over to see the other posts at Alphabe-Thursday – now to start planning for the letter Q…

O is for …

…oh no – how could I possibly not think of The Osmonds!!! Well Donny in particular, swoon.

I’m cheating now and posting a second Alphabe-Thursday post – it wasn’t until I was halfway through writing the last one that this came to me and I couldn’t bring myself to delete it and start again.

So. Donny. Where shall I start? Well, I have a feeling that one or two of you reading this will be sharing my memories right now. I can remember seeing the Osmonds on The Andy Williams Show on the black and white TV in the sixties, of course it wasn’t until my teenage years that I really fell for Donny (along with David Cassidy, of course)

I remember vividly the posters around my room in Donny’s purple phase – remember that hat?

A couple of years ago the Osmond’s were in the UK and we got tickets to see them at Wembley. Oh my word. I could have been thirteen again. There I was, approaching 50 and screaming, yes screaming for Donny to sing Puppy Love. I had tears streaming down my face. I had waited almost 40 years for that moment – it was worth the wait.

I was there – not my video but it was the night I went ;)

Given the opportunity, I’d love to see them again  - Flamingo, Las Vegas anybody??

L is for …

…Lycra! Bet you’re wondering where this is leading now aren’t you??

Picture the scene. We’re just home from our wonderful holiday. Son 2 is at home to greet us. All appears normal. Until he says ‘Stay in your bedroom with the door closed until I call you’. Mmmm – he’s always been a bit unpredictable but what on earth was he up to now?

So he called from downstairs. Off I went opened the front room door to be greeted by a vision in …PURPLE LYCRA – head to toe, including covering his face. He posed like one of those living statues and didn’t say a word. Now this is where I should show you a photo but I have to be honest I laughed so much I didn’t have the sense to grab the camera! Apparently this is a ‘Morph Suit’ they seem to be quite the thing by this website here. I tell you, you had to be there to appreciate it, I’m still smiling now!

Apparently he’s off for a weekend at a Frisbee competition  - I’m not sure if this is the kit he’ll be wearing! Ahh boys will be boys, however old they are!

This is the closest I can get – just imagine it in purple!!

I did ask him if he would pose for me tonight when he came in from work, his response ‘That’ll be a no’ at least I tried!

Pop across to Jenny's blog to see the rest of this weeks contributions.

Oh – for those of you who left comments last week, Katie has been truly touched by the interest she has generated (and probably a touch embarrassed!)

J is for

…oh, it has to be John – doesn’t it?

John is my much maligned other half. We’ve been together now for 27 years and married for almost 26 years.

We met at work and I would be lying if I said it was love at first sight. It was probably just the opposite. I couldn’t stand him. he was opinionated and arrogant. Always there putting his views across in a way that I just couldn’t take to. But then there was the evening social event that we both went to and had nobody to talk to. Except for each other. He offered me a drink and then, rather embarrassingly, discovered he had no cash – and neither did I. To cut a long story short, we spent the evening chatting spurred on by the fact that other people were staring and pointing at us, decided to leave the venue together to wide eyed stares from colleagues. On the way out John said ‘If you fancy going out some time, give me a call’ I think he was being polite. My response was ‘Oh I couldn’t do that’ to which he replied ‘OK – what are you doing on Friday?’ For some reason my answer to that was ‘Do you want to come back to mine for coffee?’ I don’t know what I was thinking but that was all I could say.

Anyway, coffee over and he left after a very chaste peck on the cheek. I hardly slept all night. I had butterflies. I was restless – what was going on – I didn’t even like the man. Or did I?

Less than six months after that evening he proposed to me and seven months later we were married. A whirlwind? Yes I suppose you could say that. There have been some very tough times, especially when the boys were young but we overcame everything and are now getting used to spending more time on our own again.

As this post appears in the ether we are nearing the end of the first week of our holiday together – just the two of us this time – so if there are any reports of an Englishman being thrown overboard in the Atlantic – it may just be him! Only joking – of course that would never happen…

I is for …

…Ignorance, and I don’t mean lack of learning.

I mean bad manners, inconsiderate, idiotic behaviours.

For instance – drivers. Why do some drivers think they own the road? You know what I mean, you’re pootling along quite happily and then some idiotic, inconsiderate person decides you’re in the way and cuts by you, forcing you to take evasive action. Or if you’re on a narrow road (as a lot of local UK roads are) they pay no heed to who has right of way and just charge towards you just squeezing through without doing any damage.

Another example, people who walk through doors and don’t even think about looking behind themselves to keep it open for you to walk through.

And another. People on mobile phones, talking soooo loud it makes your ears hurt and showing absolutely no respect for a single soul about them.

And manners! It’s not just young people so I’m not blaming any particular generation here. people who can’t eat properly, can’t use cutlery, talk with their mouth’s full of food – euukkkk!

Just a short ranting post from me this week! Check out the other contributions at Jenny's blog – I’m sure they’ll be kinder than mine this week!!!

(Oh, by the way – off on my holiday tomorrow so won’t have the opportunity to visit many posts for a couple of weeks. I’m setting mine to post automatically – fingers crossed it works – and I’ll ask somebody to link me back so that I don’t get into trouble for not keeping up with the work while I’m away!!)

G is for …

 

Gin and tonic! I agonised over G. I was going to go for Gardening and then I thought it was too cold for that. I thought of Goals (as in football) and, as you’ll remember if you read last weeks F is for …, there haven’t been too many lately. Then the new boss suggested Glass of wine and I thought hang on, she’s on to something there so I opted for Gin & tonic – my current favourite tipple.

As a teenager, misspending my youth, I tried a variety of alcoholic beverages. People always told me that Gin was mother’s ruin – a depressant, and I came to the conclusion that they were right and avoided it for years. Fast forward 30 years and I find myself once again enjoying the odd G&T – the first one taken whilst luxuriating on deck on the last cruise in November. I actually felt rather decadent as the waiter wheeled his cocktail trolley along the deck. It was only 2pm after all.

When I arrived home I treated myself to a bottle of Gordon’s Gin and a multipack of slimline tonics and have been treating myself to a regular G&T on a Saturday evening! I’m a lightweight these days when it comes to drinking so it’s only ever the one, although, I might break that habit in a couple of weeks when we head off on holiday again!

Don’t forget to pop across to Jenny's blog to see what everybody else has to offer!

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F is for …

…Football!! And for you lovely people who will read this across the Atlantic, I mean the game played with a round ball that you call soccer!

When I was growing up (way back in the 60s) I didn’t know much about football – there were a few clubs that I heard of but to no great effect. In my teenage years I started to ‘support’ Arsenal Football Club  - probably because they had some pin-up players. I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of the game. Arsenal are a North London team – not too far away from where I grew up and they are still, apart from Ipswich, my favourite club.

I went through a few years of not really caring much about football until number 2 son started showing an interest in playing. He was only about four years old when he started to play – he would go across to the local playing field with the bigger boys and really get stuck in. Then he joined Cub Scouts and started playing every Saturday morning. Of course he needed to be taken to the games and after a while he started to complain that I didn’t stay with him to watch. So I started to stay – come rain (lots of it) and shine (not much of it) I stood on the touchline every Saturday through out the season.

As he got older he joined a ‘proper’ team and showed real promise. That was until all of the other boys grew to twice his size but he stated the same size. The bigger the others got, the less chance he got to play and the more disillusioned he became. He finally gave up about age 15 when his spirit was broken after a particularly awful match.

Even though he no longer played, he still wanted to watch matches when Ipswich played at home and, because he couldn’t find anybody to go with him, I volunteered. I think we have been going along to almost every home game now for about eight seasons – generally it has been very enjoyable. Except for this season which has been diabolical. Freezing cold, not scoring many goals and drawing far too many games. The question currently hanging in the air is ‘do we renew our season tickets next year’. We’re undecided. But I know I’ll miss it. I wish it was an easy decision to make. Bother. What’ll I do if I don’t go to watch? Oh questions, questions….

Check out the other Alphabe-Thursday offerings over at Jenny's blog!

E is for ...

...ELLEN!!! Last week when I pontificated at the end of my D post, I found a message on my Facebook page which read 'refering to your random ramblings page - well, I'm not gonna lie and say I'm not insulted that you can't think of anything for the letter E ;) xx

The message was from my gorgeous goddaughter, Ellen. I half had it in mind for this post to be about her but wasn't really sure how she would feel about it. Then I figured with all the social networking that's out there now, she probably wouldn't mind – especially after her comment above!

So Ellen, where shall I begin? I first met her nearly 17 years ago when she was just a few hours old. A tiny bundle of new born joy and, of course in my eyes absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't biased then because I didn't know she would be my goddaughter at that time. She was the new born daughter of the friend that I call Julie and at that time we lived opposite one another.

Within a few weeks Julie asked me to be Ellen's godmother – I was so pleased and happy to say yes. Over the coming months and years Ellen and I became close forming that bond that meant that I would be cooler than her Mum and get away with saying things to her and persuading her to do things that her Mum wanted her to do. I remember when all of the children had chickenpox within few weeks of each other, Ellen was still tiny but had probably the worst spots of all of the children – she has a 'special' mark on her face to remind us all.

Fast forward a few years to this world of e-living and social networking, when I find myself having conversations with both Ellen and Julie but rarely together. Both are my Facebook friends but are not Facebook friends with each other. I use my godmotherly diplomacy to its full advantage and Ellen is smart enough to realise that – she can tell the hand of her mother working through another!

Ellen is a very talented young lady, she sings and acts, is a great cook (according to her mother – I'm still waiting to try her cooking) and I am very proud to be her godmother. I look forward to watching as she goes through that next phases of her life into adulthood. Oh dear – I'm starting to feel a little emotional as I write this, best pull myself together before I spoil the keyboard!

I have some lovely pictures of Ellen as a cute blonde haired little girl but typically can't find one to scan in to embarrass her with – instead I've stolen a more recent photo from Facebook – hope she doesn't mind!

Love you loads Ellen – keep on being you and you'll go far mwah mwah!!

D is for ...

...dancing! When I was about ten years old, my Mum thought it would 'do me good' to learn to dance. Quite what she had in mind I'm not sure. I was a shy child (yep – I know, hard to believe) and I think she thought it would bring me out of myself.

I can remember going along to the exotically named Maple Leaf Dance Studio in my hometown with a friend called Jackie. There we would stand awkwardly and watch all these older girls (and, shock horror, boys!) gliding around the dance floor to a waltz and bouncing around with a cha, cha cha. Slowly we found the confidence to join in and attempt to acquire the skills displayed by the others. My abiding memory to this day is standing in front of a huge mirror, arms out at right angles trying to keep my head up and not look at the floor. I also remember vividly the teacher, whose name was Linda. She was orange. Well, not literally orange but she wore so much tan coloured make-up you could have scraped it off with your finger nails!

Ahhh those were the days. I eventually managed to reach the standard to take exams to achieve bronze and silver medals. These days the closest I come to dancing is the TV. I love Strictly Come Dancing (Dancing With The Stars across the pond) and find myself transported back to the 1970s really wishing I could pluck up the courage to try it again – who knows, maybe one day...

After dancing on a Saturday morning I used to meet up with my Granddad. He used to take me to a cafe which, even back then, was very old fashioned. He would treat me to an ice cream soda – I can still taste it today!

You know this Alhabe-Thursday is really making me think – I'm already thinking about next week, what the hell can I come with for E??? Ahhh – an idea is forming as I look back over this one!

Thanks for reading – I'll do my best to visit all of the others by the weekend!

C is for....

...so many things, I couldn't pick just one so here's a few! Hasn't Thursday come around quickly!

Chocolate – mmm delicious, my one temptation. I just can't resist it. Milk. Plain. White. In a bar. In a box. I'm not fussy. Oh - except that I don't like gooey chocolate cakes and puddings.

Candles – lovely smelling scented candles. The only thing is that I don't find them particularly scented once I've lit them – is it me?

Cruising – newly discovered but an absolute passion now. The first one was only last February and I've had two more since then! Oh – and another one booked for six weeks time. If somebody had said to me two years ago that this would be my preferred holiday I would have said they were mad – especially as I'm frightened of water and can't swim! Watch this space (well not this one in particular but you know what I mean)for more details to come!

Crochet – as a child my aunt to taught me to crochet. Trouble was she crocheted as if she were knitting – you know – all with the right hand instead of holding the yarn in the left and hooking it through. I started again in the autumn having been inspired by some lovely crafty blogs that I'd happened upon. I thought I'd make a granny blanket and embarked on my mission here, I've probably completed enough squares now to make a small blanket. Just need to do the boring stuff now of sewing/stitching them all together – I'll let you know the outcome! Meanwhile, I just had to start the next project – going for waves this time oooh – back to cruising!

Thanks for taking the time to read – I do try to read all of the posts that are linked here, sorry if I don't get around to leaving a comment on them all!

B is for ...Brother

Well – I bet that has surprised those of you that kindly made suggestions, you weren't expecting that one were you! I warn you the beginning of this a little maudlin but it gets better.

I don't have one, John has two and my sons have one each. I did have a brother but sadly he was killed in a road accident when he was eight years old. I was ten at the time but still recall so clearly the evening's events. I had come home from Brownies to find my Mum beside herself because David was nowhere to be seen. At the time we lived just outside London, separated from the capital by the A1 trunk road a busy road even forty years ago. He was actually killed on that road as he attempted to cross on his bike to collect world cup coins from a petrol station. He was killed outright so didn't suffer. My parents never recovered – especially my Mum. My Dad was more resilient, finding comfort in the bottom of a beer glass and eventually moving on to pastures new and a readymade new family. My Mum's health went downhill slowly from that point as first her physical health deteriorated and subsequently her mental health. I lost my Mum to mental illness when I was about 19, she lived another 11 years but was not 'Mum' she was somebody else altogether. My boys never knew her as they should have done and John only met her as a shell of her formal self.

Since number one son moved out earlier in the year, I have sensed a shift in the relationship between the boys. I knew it would happen at some time but I suppose I wasn't anticipating it just yet. They spend evenings together now playing. Yes, that's right I said playing. Thank heavens for the invention of the video game (or whatever they're called) because nowadays they can beat the living daylights out of each other in good humour playing boxing games on the X-box. No blood or bruises, tears or tantrums. I'm pleased that they can finally be friends as well as brothers. I can remember saying once when they were very young that whatever happened they would always be there for each other and I'm pleased that that prophecy has come true.

Weren't they sweet all those years ago? They'll kill me for this one...