Tuesday 31 March 2015

A Couple of Days In Evesham ……We Are So Proud …….

Baby Iris has got her first swimming certificate …….
She’s a “Level 1 Turtle Tot” !!!!!!!!
We are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo very proud!

Monday 30 March 2015

A Couple Of Days In Evesham

Since we are not at work for a couple of weeks I decided it would be nice to accept Tom and The Lovely Laura’s kind invitation for Nigel and I to spend a few of days in Evesham with them and Baby Iris before the “touristy” season began ……  but don’t worry about Darrell being left out, as he will be off soon to London to stay with Hugh, his best friend and mentor, who lives the showbiz life in Notting Hill.
I decided that we should travel in style by train and thought that the three changes involved would be a very exciting, timetable mastering  experience for Nigel.
And as soon as we arrived in Evesham I couldn’t help but notice immediately how romantic the railway station was ……….
…………. compared to our very own one in Wolverhampton  ……...
w-ton station…… and how the air seemed to smell so much fresher …..
And then, as we walked through Evesham to Tom’s and said Lovely Laura’s, Nigel and I couldn’t help admire it’s proper river, with its romantic bridges and boat cruises in the summer  ……. it was almost like being on a “really holiday”, but not that far from home, if you know what I mean and it made me go a little bit goosepimply.I suppose I was beginning to feel the spooky Derek Acorah allure that Tom and The Lovely Laura must have felt when they were looking for a place to settle down with Baby Iris.
And then, Nigel spotted the noticeboard with a poster listing all the events in the Evesham Festival Season throughout the spring/summer 2015 ……..
Now, we have a few “exciting” events in our village, like the Easter Monday Fair and the carnival, but we have nothing to compare with the Big Sheep Returns, A National Morris Weekend (for which we would have the proper outfits, thanks to the Equally Lovely Denise), not to mention a Medieval Festival, a 2 Day Regatta and a real live Battle!!!!
I am afraid it all put my mind into an inner turmoil ……. 

Sunday 29 March 2015

Nigel ………. The Village International Daffodil Rescue

The first day of our Easter holidays …… and it’s raining!!!!
However, the rain has done nothing to dampen Nigel’s holiday spirit, now resplendent in his Easter t-shirt (a gift from our friends Dianne and Christopher in sunny and romantic Florida),   because ……  he is now a monkey on a mission!!  As you know, he has always shown a keen interest in the daffodils that grown along the verge across the road from Castle Greysquirrel …..
……. because for us, they are the first indicator in the village that spring is finally on it’s way …… but, tempting as they are, Nigel is not allowed to freely avail himself of them, unless they have fallen irretrievably or the stems have broken completely.
So, Nigel in his much mused wisdom has taken on the mantle of becoming “International Daffodil Rescue”, watching diligently from upstairs for any bloom that may falter under the weight of the rain or against the wind  ……
…… to run across the road and “rescue” any in distress .  What is he like?

Saturday 28 March 2015

The Very Hungry ……………… Easter Caterpillar?

To say, that this week, in the office, it  has been akin to being an extra in the making of the Very Hungry (Easter) Caterpillar with Nigel in the lead role would be an understatement!!!
It’s a bit of a romantic, Easter tradition amongst the office ladies to pop small seasonal dainties on each others desks during the last week before the Easter holidays………
….. and that said tradition includes Nigel,  even though he doesn’t even have a desk in any office ………
……… because, everyone just adores him……. and his erm …… robustly healthy appetite!
However, with such bounty, I felt it best to insist that Nigel bring all but the cupcakes and hot cross buns home …….
…… in order that his festive consumption can be carefully monitored ……..
…….. and that not all his comestible intake over the next two weeks is not solely  ………
…… of a chocolate type nature!!!!

Friday 27 March 2015

Easter Hampsters Akimbo!

It has to be said that this week our office has been robustly awash with, what Nigel likes to call, chocolate “hampsters” !!!!!
Prizes from the school Easter raffle …… and for those who are now currently wondering out aloud …….. no, Nigel did not win the mahoooooosive iced Easter egg he has set his heart on, but, he is being philosophical, “It was rather big” he mused “…… perhaps even a little too big……. even for the voracious appetites of Castle Greysquirrel it did run the risk going stale, even with a steady, daily consumption!”
We didn’t win a humungous “hampster” either ………
…… which Darrell remarked were almost on par to the “hampsters” that Hugh his best friend and mentor, who lives the showbiz life in Notting Hill has made up in a shop that must remain nameless to give to his staff and paperboy at Easter!
Sometimes, an abundance of chocolate can be a little overwhelming and intimidating even for Nigel …..
But, before you even start to feel a little sorry for him ……believe me ….. Nigel has certainly not been without in the week before the Easter holidays
…as you will see tomorrow …..

Thursday 26 March 2015

Nigel’s Most Amazing Find To Date!!!

Nigel’s long run of finding “interesting” things of an abandoned type nature continues …….
……. yesterday, he couldn’t believe his eyes when he found the most romantic, rusty trunk he has ever seen, which almost blocked the pavement and his safe passage to work!
Nigel immediately sensed that it was undoubtedly a trunk of untold history and great mystery that would undoubtedly yield great treasures, and Nigel being Nigel and emboldened by fanciful imaginings couldn’t help taking a peek at its contents (if any).
It yielded,to many very little, what looked like bike handles and an old bit fashioned drill ….. not quite doubloons or pieces at eight, but treasure indeed to a curious mind !!!
Sadly,(and maddingly for a totally entranced Nigel), the trunk was far too big for him to claim the ancient right of “finders keepers” and get home. With a bit of spit and polish it wouldn’t have taken much to do up. Sometimes having “the gift of finding things” can be a double edged sword sighed Nigel to himself, especially when you have to leave them where you found them!!!!

Wednesday 25 March 2015

A Little Bit Late ….. But Finally, Our Magical Eclipse Report.

This was Nigel’s first ever eclipse, and he was determined to embrace it most robustly .  He had been up to the Science department and asked for instructions on how to make a “safe” viewer, and then had come back to me in a state of flux, where we made one together, using our spookily poignant  “eclipse” copier paper and a drawing pin to make a hole for the sun to shine through…….
…… and then we went outside on the field, where, it seemed, the whole school was out embracing the moment too.
It seemed that all the other office staff had raided our copier room for “eclipse” box lids with which to make their high tech “safe” viewers!
And, there was much jovial ecliptical banter as to which was the best way to hold their said box lids for maximum ecliptical viewage.
Even Nigel’s colleagues from the kitchen abandoned their bread kneading and pizza topping duties for a while to share in this spellbinding occasion.
We certainly had the most perfect conditions with a clear blue sky.
And then it started ……
and the air became hushed, and the feeling of anticipation was both palpable and tangible  ……
…… as the magicial, predestined  paths of earth, moon and sun started to slowly alignment into position ……
It goes without saying that Nigel was totally and absolutely mesmerised ……
…… so much so, that even I could almost feel his goosebumps!
And then, when it was finally over and the totality had returned, Nigel went inside to watch it all over again on the big screen, to be equally mesmerised second time round.
On Friday we had all been witness/part of a little part of astrological economical equilateral astronomical history, an event  I would almost go as far as saying that was on par to any X Factor Final!