Tawney
How exciting! I suppose you do realise you will send loopy Elaine into excitement 'overdrive' now?

What GREAT photos. Where is all that lush short green grass? Is that your backyard?

madmare
Wonderful wonderful news! Yay! Especially about some of your new neighbours 'stepping up to the plate'. You would do the same for them I am sure and this is how good neighbourly relations are forged.

I will now wait with bated breath to hear about you texting Lynn. Can't wait to hear how it went for her and Dillon.

Jenny
Ahh all that stuff about the grass just reinforced my view that though I thought I'd miss the stuff I never did and never will do. Now wish I had back all the years I must have spent in my life tending to the bluddy stuff when you can hardly ever get out on it! But we insanely still want to 'see it'.

My neice's partner is off to that Movember thingie too. That's the part of the world I hail from (well a few miles away) and where my mother's family come from. But VERY different now - especially since the Olympics revamp.

I didn't hold out much hope about the Cyprus lad (there was another recent news story that Maddie McCann was here too). I have mixed feelings this far on - wonderful for the parents to know eventually that he is 'OK' but what a nightmare for the future - it's not as if they can just welcome him back into their fold. When he has spent his whole life with another family and no idea of the 'past'. Was never just going to be a simple 'happy homecoming' was it?

What the news here in Cyprus reported was that he was a Roma gipsy who came forward himself after the story was shown to him. So probably quite traumatic for him anyway.

We have a lot of Roma here in Cyprus (my new cleaning girl is one - but I don't subscribe to the view that they are all 'thieving gypsies') because we have a lot of Romanians here since they joined the EU and it's where most of them originally hail from and Romania is a VAST country. However, they say they will be arriving in their hordes in the UK from next year! And quite a few I know are planning to head that way after Xmas!

Was surprised to find the Daily still just on one page at this time of day (but I do have it set to display a lot of posts)

I obviously haven't been as long winded as I usually am and must try harder!

It's because I am back and boring the pants off of everyone..

I do have a habit of killing threads....

Pat, that grass is the football field, lovingly tending by loadsa blokes so's they can play footie on it one day a week and my girlies can run riot on it the other 6
Couldn't decide whether to take her on a longer walk or not today, but in the end the football field was closer, it is half term and had a near miss with an offlead staffie minutes from leaving the house, and I think she needs shorter walks now, plus I was running round divesting my house of shavings and dog hair because I had visitors at 2pm, which went really well, lovely couple, they weren't in the least bothered by all the girlies leaping about, another couple who adored Keshi, HA!!! Mabs liked them and even cleaned his ears out for him
Bev, I bet you feel marvellous after that shower, just the freezer to go now eh What lovely neighbours to give your food room in their freezer, so glad you are happy there.
Mabs's tummy is certainly increasing in size by the day now

Afternoon all, and blimey only page 3 and we're half way through a day/night That'll all change tonight when Sally makes her entrance I'm sure.

Well, busy morning here, got to the hairdressers on time (he likes it when I'm on time and not early) but his daughter said there'd been a double booking (surprise surprise, that always happens), so she would do my roots. So now I have nice dark, quietened down mauve hair, cos she put so much on the roots, it actually covered a lot of the bright red stuff that was on there, and it looks much better, even he commented that this is the colour for me. I told him I liked it, it wasn't as chavvy as the last colour which in all honesty, was a bit too glaring for me to carry it off in my tender years. Sorted, he said next time, they will use just the base on the roots and slap some of the red over the rest so that I wouldn't have to suffer 2 visits. Last time he just put the wild colour straight on and with white (grey!) roots the look wasn't good I can assure you.

I had to drag my neighbour into the back garden when I got back, cos our lovely, solid aris rail fencing was bowing where they've stashed all their winter logs against it. Little David came round, Zena was (I thought) shut indoors, but out she came, she'd opened the utility door, just as I was shoving the little boy up the fence by his backside to get over to their side to see what was happening Turns out, because of the wind, he said a lot of the big logs had fallen behind their little wall up against our fence and was pushing against ours, so give them their due, instead of going where they were going, they spent the time dragging all the logs out and reinstating them, and voila, my fence is now straight again - sorted.

I decided to take Zena out for a 2nd walk cos of the glorious sunshine, and as I came out of the side gate I asked one of the boys if their dogs were indoors. He told me I was safe, cos they were inside. Off we went down our side steps to the car, got on the drive, and this bluddy labradoodle of theirs which hates Zena, just appeared from one of the bushes inbetween our drives and launched an attack right in her face All hell broke loose, Zena was onlead, but I let it go. They grabbed their dog, I called Zena and told her to get into the car which she did. The little boy (the one I was shoving over the fence) came running over to console poor Zena, and he leaned into the car to pet her, she went all silly and whiney and was licking his face profusely, as if to say, it's ok, I know it wasn't your fault - she adores him! Off we went and she was fine. We met lots of dogs, some were barking at her as they passed us, but she just sat and ignored it, so I'm sure she'll be ok and carry on as normal.

Had lunch, went for a lie down and I was rudely awoken, not by the delivery man today, but by a bluddy FLY! Grrrrr. Fancy being woken up by a manky, irritating bluebottle buzzing past your head I'd only been asleep half an hour It had to go, so out came the fly spray, then I couldn't breathe with all the fumes so I got up and did some office work

Bev, glad to hear you can now wash and eat, and hopefully, you've got something to cook thanks to your sweet neighbours there. You got me all worried, I rang Beko and she told me to look inside the fridge door for my serial number, but I couldn't find it, but it then transpired that it's not one of the problem f/f's cos it's the american style double one - thank the Lord.

Jenny, OMG what a nightmare you've had mowing that long, wet grass and poor Dave has got that to come this week-end at the big van cos it's almost a foot high now. You'll never get those grass stains out of your hands nor those jeans, cos I remember getting grass stains myself once, on a lovely pair of white trousers (NOOOOOOOOO, I won't go there ) suffice to say, it was during my mis-spent youf

Pat, I read about you earlier, but since I left the puter I've now forgotten, but you did make me laugh!! Oh yes, the doing a me bit lol! In fact, you did it twice, cos of the misconfig of that woman I remember as a kid, charging up to this old dear from behind, leaping onto her back, because I THOUGHT she was one of my mum's residents (she took in old biddies at the time), but when she turned around, the look of horror on her face will never leave me it wasn't her I ran off whilst she had her heart attack I still do it now, but I don't leap on people, I just get their names wrong or their faces like you did today lol.

Moyra, so pleased to hear your eyes are improving, carry on with the drops.

Elaine, hope you enjoyed a coffee with your friend (I think?) and hope the eversuffering didn't disturb you on the phone

June, lovely pics of the fabulous mum, just imagine how beautiful her babies are going to be when they pop out. Any idea how many yet? Dare you guess? How many do you hope for? I hear you've got more owners than puppies which can only be a good thing, but maybe you'll be wrong, it will all match up hopefully. I just can't wait for our pics of this new litter

Hi DD, enjoy your gardening, it's something I've got to get to grips with here, but it's finding the time what with everything else on my never ending list. I like it when you're around for the winter, cos whatever you have over there, we seem to get in a week's time, so I need a weather report please when you get the first real cold and snow. They said we'd be getting a big dumping of snow in November here Can't quite believe that, but that's what they've forecast. I do hope that new job of yours will allow you some time with us, otherwise, you know what you have to do don'tcha

Got e-mails to answer now, more enquiries and the neighbour's planning objection progress, it's getting near the time when it goes to the committee and he needs a bit of help.

Catch you later.

Please DESIST from causing me to splutter my dressed salad over my keyboard!

BEST possible use to put a football field to IMHO!

Totally agree Pat, they can be quite over possessive of 'their' field so I let them think it is their's even though they only use it once or twice a week. In reality it belongs to the Girlies

When my boys were little it was the local 'football field' just over the road that we used to teach them how to ride their yamaha schoolboy scramblers! Quite miffed on the few days it was used for footie!

Use to take my GSD there too sometimes but she preferred a more interesting landscape so it would be the woods for her most of the time.

I'll be glad to get back to some more normal walks. With the main road closed I can't get up to where the bridle paths and my Enchanted Garden are, river is too high to go on there, and it is half term and judging by my experience this morning with a child and an offlead staffy, I am correct in assuming the tow path is not a good place to be this week.