Sunday 30 April 2017

Darrell Makes A Few Of His Own Considered Purchases Whilst Back In The Homeland.

Although Darrell announced that he was “totally shopped out” back in The Homeland after his recent frequent sojourns away, helping Lucy with her domestic renovations, Darrell thought that a few gifts “from aboard” would be appreciated by those at The Towers who were missing him!!!!!
shopping So …………
shopping dinosaurs…… for Iris and Bertie there was a stegosaurus mould for their sandpit to foster any possible future interest and career in Palaeontology and ……. for when making and smashing down castles  gets a bit boring for him!
shopping rubber ring 2shopping rubber ring
For Nigel and I there was a jumbo rubber ring for our forthcoming odyssey to the romantic Greek island of Corfu, to save us from wasting valuable beach time searching for and paying silly prices when we get there ……..
shopping festive scourers …… and finally ….. some reduced Christmas tree shaped scourers to put away for Christmas, knowing how much we all like to embrace and reflect a seasonal theme in all aspects of our domestic and celebratory life!  What is he like?

Saturday 29 April 2017

Darrell Helps Lucy To Make Several Considered Purchases.

Darrell is once again back in the Homeland at Lucy’s behest, to give more of his de rigueur, haute de en-trend advice for the much anticipated renovation of Maison De La Lu. The project management of the boring bib and braces type stuff is now firmly in hand, allowing Lucy time to concentrate on froufrou stage, which, it has to be said, is much more up Darrell’s cul de sac.
shopping 9Following on from last week, Lucy’s bed is still very much the focus for said froufrou, and, after much deliberation and flicking through too many colour swashes to mention,  they both agreed that an extremely understated and gentle blush pink, with a smidgen of champagne glitter should be the only colours to grace, what was,essentially, a very neutral, Kelly Hoppen with Miss Piggy undertones type boudoir..
shopping cushions 1However, Darrell did stress, many times, that the “right ambient texture” was just as important as the colour, and that could be where any possible conflicts of a “textural character” might occur ….. what is he like?  As Nigel would say “ cushions is cushions”, and something to rest his evening snack plate on ……but such things should never, ever, be said within Darrell’s earshot
shopping throwIt has to be said that Darrell dun gud yet again, Lucy, in accepting Darrell’s advice made quite a few considered purchases in Wolverhampton’s H & M Home Department, with, as Darrell said, “texture complimenting colour and vice versa” and much stroking of purchases at the till.
 shopping sleepshopping bed
On returning to Maison De La Lu after their successful jaunt,  Darrell took to his bed for the rest of the afternoon, apologising to Lucy, but explaining he was totally and artistically wiped out ….. but a cup of tea and a custard cream or two, laid very quietly on his bedside table would be very, very acceptable. 

Friday 28 April 2017

Nigel ….. Hungers For The Past

Nigel has asked (pleaded/beseeched/begged) that when I have finally finished reviewing the pleasures of most, if not all the many cafes and teashops of Evesham ……..
chinese 1……if …… we could possibly consider doing the same, but this time exploring the pleasures of Evesham’s finest Chinese takeaway emporiums ……..chinese 1aaaa…… something he is very, very, very partial to, especially a Crispy Chilli Beef or Cantonese Sweet and Sour anything.
chinese 8Back in The Homeland our beloved Jade House was just across the road and they always knew our order, but in Evesham it would be quite a walk to collect one, with the risk of our chosen dishes being a little lukewarm on their arrival at The Towers.  I have told him I will consider it, as I too, after 10 months of abstinence have a hankering for a Chicken Chow Mein and no doubt Darrell wouldn’t be averse to a Special Fried Rice,  I have said that I need to explore home delivery ……. but he could collect a few menus just in case.

Thursday 27 April 2017

Nigel Makes A Wonderful Discovery

Poor Nigel came home yesterday in an absolute state of flux ……….
swan 1……. he had found a pair of nesting swans, which was pretty wonderful,  but, he’s a bit worried that it’s not in the most salubrious spot for baby “swanlings” to enter the world.
swan 3It’s down by the lock, in an area where the all the rubbish from the river collects, especially after bad weather, it is fairly sheltered, but it is directly next to the path we like to walk along when we go in and out of town, and it’s awfully close to some housing.
swan 6I have told him not to fret (although I too am a little worried that they might eat something they shouldn’t amidst all the rubbish), but, I also said that swans generally know what they are doing, and they can certainly fight their corner if they need to, especially where nests and eggs are concerned.
swanI have promised that we will keep our eye on them, but we must be very careful not to disturb them or cause them any distress.

Wednesday 26 April 2017

We’re Officially Official Citizens Of Evesham

Yesterday we received a card of very great import in our letter box………
poll card…….. our card to vote in the Worcester County Council Elections,  it was an emotional moment, we have been accepted and are now recognised and official citizens of Evesham South …….. we feel very proud, the Boyz from Wolverhampton dun gud!
poll card 3We always take our vote very seriously and will now begin to study the runners and riders in this contest in earnest, although we haven’t yet received any flyers or callers to The Towers asking for our opinions or requesting that they “can count on our support”……
Poll card 1We will also be practising our X’s at every opportunity, we certainly don’t want to be found wanting in this department, how embarrassing would it be to have our vote disembowelled because we had a wonky or even worse an undecipherable cross.  It will also be good practice for the BIG ONE on June 8th, when the whole world will be looking on us …….. not “us”  as in “us” personally …… but “us” as a proud nation .

Tuesday 25 April 2017

A New Exotic Taste To Consider

A new Portuguese cafĂ© has just opened in town, and we have to admit to being strangers to said Portuguese cuisine …….
Portugese Restaurant. aThe menu sounds most tempting and exotic …….Portugese Restaurant….. and particularly romantic as the prices are written in “the foreign style”, which is just like being on holiday …… but at home. 

Monday 24 April 2017

Nigel’s New Hopes And Dreams ……

Whenever we go to the library for Music, Rhythm and Rhyme with Iris and Bertie we have to pass the Registry Office, as it happens to be in the same building.
Registration service 7And over the months it has become a place of great intrigue and fascination for Nigel, not knowing what goes on within its innermost sanctums ………
Registration Office……. that was until yesterday, when he finally decided to go and have a proper look without the encumbrance of two babies and all their “stuff”.
Registration Office 1Registration Office 2
The registration of births and deaths didn’t really hold much interest for Nigel……BUT….. after studying almost ALL of the reading matter available at great length, he has now set his heart on becoming a Best Man!
Registration Office 3Heaven help us all, I have already told him that he is wasting his time asking me if he can be my Best Man, as there hasn’t been a lady on my horizon since Tallulah back in our Girls School days, and I think she rather put me off the idea of marriage and frankly, ladies!
Registration Office 5And I don’t think Darrell has felt “the call of the wild……..”  for a long time either, he seems to have celebrity crushes, Stacey Solomon and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini Cole One Direction, to name but two, rather than pursue any real life romance  The only person I know who might just consider plighting his troth one day would be Hugh ………. in the meantime ……… I just don’t know what to suggest.

Sunday 23 April 2017

Lucy Calls Upon Darrell’s Haute De Rigueur Yet Again

Darrell got a call yesterday morning from Lucy asking if he would be up for a bit of a boudoir mooch around John Lewis. With the big things organised like a new floor, walk in wardrobe and complete redecoration of walls, ceiling and doors, Lucy felt that she could now start looking for the frou frou, she was, she said “…..thinking along the lines of the “Tasteful Miss Piggy” look, and Darrell was the only one she could trust to advice her on putting such a delicately balanced look together, she wanted boudoir not bordello!
IMG_2303Chandalier
Darrell said that a chandelier was an essential and timeless de rigueur for said planned boudoir, but sadly John Lewis were strangers to the  tradition five branch chandelier with candle bulbs resting in a scalloped bobeche and generously draped crystal drops and droplets, that both Darrell and Lucy had firmly fixed in their minds.
chand 6chand5
However, bed linen proved to be a much easier proposition, with Darrell telling Lucy that though colour can be very tempting, you really can’t go wrong with a simple white Egyptian 300 thread count, because it can be layered and dressed up and then layered and dressed up again ……..
chand 3……. with throws and runners and at least fifteen cushions of varying shapes and sizes, and of an embroidered, beaded, sequined and tassled type nature, even if they do end up on the, all be it, new floor when you actually get into the bed!
All in all it was a successful mission, with a white throw duly purchased and another trip planned next week in Telford to look at more chandeliers, bijoux bedside lamps and aforementioned frou frou ……….  

Saturday 22 April 2017

Close Season On The River ….. For Some

It’s been very quiet on the platform at the bottom of our bank, as it’s the close season for fishing, there won’t be any fishing on the river now until June 16th.
Closed Fishing SeasonIt’s a time for the fish to spawn ……. and, it’s not just the fish ……there has been an awful lot of “duck activity” going on, and it has to be said, they are not very quiet about it!
DucksFortunately, I don’t think Nigel has noticed …….
IMG_2131……. but, I think he may notice when there are a few extra mouths to feed in the coming weeks/months, however, hopefully, by that time, he will be so enamoured by all the fluffy, new, little ducklings he won’t ask where they came from ……
IMG_2126…… I hope!

Friday 21 April 2017

CV’s At The Ready

I think there could be an atmosphere of rife competitive job application and CV putting together when Darrell and Nigel get a whiff of this brilliant career opportunity……
JOb Vacancy…….. Sunday Person at Mr Chills Traditional Sweet Emporium! It has  to be the most romantic job in the world, weighing out 100grams of sweeties from large, equally romantic, large, old fashioned, if plastic, jars and pouring into paper bags!
Mr Chills……. I think I can safely speak for Darrell, Nigel and myself in saying that we would consider the possibility of a three way job share or being paid solely in confectionary, if it helps to secure, what has to be for us,  the dream job.
Job Vacancy 1The interview should be a doddle, considering all our experience in tasting and reviewing …… though I don’t think I will mention my aversion to jelly babies on my application form, just in case the mere thought of having one anywhere near me makes me gag (it’s a texture thing) goes against me! 

Thursday 20 April 2017

Lidl Greek Week

Our next Greek Odyssey to the Island of Corfu is fast approaching, and Darrell, I am happy to say is within a half centimetre of getting into his budgie smugglers!
IMG_2275And, as if to further remind us, today sees the start of Lidl’s Greek Week, a tempting foretaste of the culinary pleasures to come.  Though  I think we could now claim to be old pros at the Greek Holiday, I shall still be making a few considered purchases to help acclimatise our appetites and tastes……
Lidl Greek Week 2…….. but I will be still be ever mindful of Darrell’s aforementioned last half a centimetre, the last thing I want is to be accused of sabotage and have said budgie smugglers flung at me in a flounce!

Wednesday 19 April 2017

Not To Everyone’s Taste

I guess every town has a couple of art critics, and Evesham is obviously no exception, after I found an offending piece of art that had caused so much displeasure that the “offended one” had decided to wrap it round a bollard!
Art Critic 2I have to admit that the picture was not really to my taste, doleful raggedy looking be-breeched boys clutching a puppy of an underdetermined breeding (obviously many times crossed) doesn’t really do anything for me either.
Art Critic 3However, I know a certain little monkey who, if he had seen this picture in it’s undamaged state, might have been tempted to bring it home to “enhance” The Towers or at least his bedrooms decor ……
Art Critic 1So, though I do not, in any way, encourage the wanton vandalism, especially of The Arts,  perhaps in this case, said art critic has done me a small favour! 

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Evesham’s Easter Windows

The Festive activities at The Towers over Easter were a most excellent distraction from preventing Nigel musing too much of Village Easter Fayres past, back in The Homeland.
Win a bottle tombola Bilbrook Easter Monday Fayre[4]No one can dispute that the village Motorworld undoubtedly had a very wonderful Nativity display at Christmas, but it has to be said that it didn’t do a bundle for Easter ……
Easter Window 3…… however, since moving to Evesham we have discovered that the towns shop folk do like to embrace the seasonal window display, which has kept Nigel suitably entranced and occupied during the run up to Easter.
Easter Windows 2Easter Windows
Nigel had wanted me to photograph him with them all ……..
Easter Window 1….. but I did have to tell him that I do actually have a life ……
Easter Window 2So Darrell stepped in to help with a few too, but there were many we didn’t have time to feature …… perhaps next year Nigel!
Easter window 9Sadly, there was nothing of a knitted religious type nature ……. Easter Window 66….. but, who knows, perhaps it’s only a matter of time …………knitted_jesus…….. before we get ……
b…….. a knitted Last Supper, and then there will be no doing with Nigel then!