Nigel Receives A Very Wonderful Gift

Oh my, on Friday, Rob the Postman knocked on our door with a mysterious and totally unexpected package for Nigel, from our lovely friend and follower Heather .......

...... inside, was the most wonderful collection of stickers, along with a very simple note from the aforementioned lovely Heather that said it all  .........

......... they were for Nigel's beloved readers and needless to say, it got a tad emotional for the little fella ........

....... but once recovered ..........  

 ........ he couldn't wait to get to school .........

 ....... to start sticking them in said little ones reading record books ........

........ alongside his encouraging comments.

Again, it was an emotional experience for Nigel as the little ones mulled over which stickers they wanted to either stick on their sweatshirts or tie or in their books, wishing Heather could see what they meant to each and every one. 

There are enough stickers to last until at least the end of the school year and most probably beyond, when Nigel could quite possibly be working with new classes too   ..........  so goodness only knows how memories are there to be made. 

So, thank you soooooooo much Heather, you've made so many small people (including Nigel) very happy with your thoughtful gift, that will continue to keep on giving for an awful long time to come  ......... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  

WE'VE MOVED

As you can see (below) all our old pictures have been restored, with very grateful thanks to nelsonkodama, one of the commenters on github.com who came with a work around ........ however, we're still going to continue with It's A Monkey's Life as we can't really afford to have any more issues like this, should Google inevitably decide to change things up again, as our poor webmaster has been quite stressed by it all. 

https://itsamonkeyslife.blogspot.com/

Although we will always have the memories of the past adventures very much safe in our minds, it's still lovely to now have the pictures back again to look back on as well .........

........................................................

What can we say, where do we start?  As you can see below, we've “lost” all our pictures from as far back as we dare to look and to make matters worse, we’ve also lost all the pictures in posts that were already scheduled for the next week or so. Needless to say our webmaster is absolutely bereft. Years and years of our adventures simply wiped out with a flick of someone's switch, without a clue of how to put it right and to be honest, without our pictures we don't have a blog.

https://itsamonkeyslife.blogspot.com/

So what do we do? Accept this huge loss and carry on regardless by starting  from scratch again …….. you'd better believe it .......

https://itsamonkeyslife.blogspot.com/

However, in order to do this, we've decided to have a change of name and move on to a new website, as we really can't bear to see all our old posts sat sitting bereft of any pictures ..... 
......... so from today you'll find us as at ........ drum roll ......

https://itsamonkeyslife.blogspot.com/

See you on the other side!

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry

 Our apologies ....... we have a HUGE problem with our pictures ......... they have disappeared, well, they are still there in the background, but not in the flesh ....... we are really at a loss as to what to do .....  but will hopefully back on Monday if we can sort a work around ........ if we can't find a cure by then!  Aghh

FABULOUS Fabulosa!

Darrell couldn’t have started 2024 in, for him, a more fabulous way, he’d had a little money for Christmas and knew exactly what he wanted to spend it on ……..

……. to wit, a box crammed with his very most favourite cleaning and home fragrance  products of choice, Winter Angel from Fabulosa.

What on earth is he like, I hear you say ……. it’s quite an unusual, self administered  “treat” ………

…… but then Darrell does derive an awful lot of pleasure from running and organising a forensically clean household ……

…….. so, if he can don his (pink) marigolds and clean to his little hearts content, while enveloped in his favourite lingering “ponk”…….

…….. then let him be, simple pleasures with a pristine result, bless his little cotton socks.

However, I was a little dubious about the Fabulosa “Fab A LOO” bathroom spray, but with sprouts featuring quite regularly chez Towers at the moment, as a seasonal component  to our rigorous 5 a day regime, there is, in a household comprising solely of gentlemen, the very occasional, not so fragrant outage ……… if you know what I mean!

Darrell says he’s sorted for at least the next six month and we certainly won’t be found wanting of a Mrs Hinch type nature ……… Now, if only they made a Winter Angel candle, that he could light and then chill out, once his work was done. I think that might be a bit of an angelic overload, but I certainly wouldn’t begrudge him the pleasure is they did ………

We Review Limited Edition Gin And Tonic After Eight Mints

Well, The Towers back to it’s normal self (whatever that is) ………..

…… we’ve finally got the time to do the much anticipated review of the limited edition Gin and Tonic After Eight Mints, mother and daughter combo Paula and Louise sent us for Christmas.

As we said before, how on earth we ourselves missed these on the shop shelves while we were out and about, we just can’t fathom, most unusually, we must have momentarily taken our eyes off the confectionary ball as it were ……..

….. so “Thank You” to the aforementioned Paula and Louise for keeping us to speed as to the latest said After Eight development.

We will  admit to being a little hesitant and dubious, gin not really being one of our tipples of choice, unless mixed among many others in one of Darrell’s usually very potent cocktails.

We did also wonder if the mints were a bit of a publicity stunt and if they really did really contain any actual gin and tonic, but the proof was in the reading, with natural jupiter juniper flavouring, indeed clearly listed in with the ingredients.

But how did they taste? Well, on first nibble, they tasted just like any other ordinary After Eight Mint and if we hadn’t known beforehand that they were of a limited edition type nature,  I dare say we would never have been the wiser ……..

……. however, we think that the long lingering after taste gave it away in the end, because I’m not really sure we liked it ….. as it did rather take its time loitering on our taste buds ……..

…… which was only washed away by a good, old swig of milk ……..

…… leading us to agree that a daily intake of two mints per portion, per person, served with a small glass of ice cold milk would be a most ample sufficiency for such a delicacy.

Now to our World Famous Richter Scale of Noms, with a score of eight juniper berries short of a bunch, with Darrell wondering what had happened to his prized, 10p, vintage After Eight Mint holder ……. and a message to the After Eight makers out there, that if something ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it. Your “normal” mints are perfect as they are, don’t go messing with them, just because you think they’ve got a bit boring, we like them just as they are, in unadulterated form and unlimited form.

Waste Not …… Twas The Season

Christmas and New Year was, it has to be said, the mother of all seasons for leftovers ……..

…….. which is why Darrell made sure we have more than an ample and sufficient supply of bowl covers for when putting aside a few comestible titbits to use up in one of his unbelievable bubble and squeaks, curry, rissoles etc., which, it has to be said, were almost as wonderful as his truimphant  Christmas dinner!

However, with the season now well and truly over, said bowl covers also make ………..

…… the most excellent, impromptu shower caps, BUT never, we hasten to add, the twain shall meet, there’s no way we’d ever risk any unfortunate cross contamination of a festive rogue hair type nature.

What on (peace on) earth, are we like?

Apres Les Floods ……

Oh my goodness, the river may almost be back to normal ………

……. but under our “hedgehog” bridge ……………..

…… we’ve got a puddle of mahoooooosive and unpresidented unprecedented  proportions, as Nigel discovered this yesterday afternoon while he was out for a walk.

However, said “puddle”, according to Nigel, has enormous potential, beyond our wildest dreams,  should the temperature plummet to well below freezing point  ……….

…… because then we would, possibly, have a covered skating rink for our delectation, right on our doorstep, if we could avail ourselves of several pairs of skates …….. it would, according to the little fella be a veritable and very romantic  “Holiday On Ice” …….. what on earth is he like, bless him!

Confectionary That Would Be Too Rude To Review

OMG ……. it’s hard to believe, but over Christmas we received the most wonderous package of confectionary from Hugh, Darrell’s best friend and mentor of all things bright and beautiful, who sadly couldn’t join us over the holiday, as he was in tied up in Malibu!

However, to make up for our abject disappointment, before he left, he’d arranged a surprise for us, from, I can hardly bring myself to say the word …… the real life, London, Harrods!

There was a Turkish Delight Collection, in a box, according to Nigel, that needed to be stroked in a most gentle and reverent fashion. To be honest, my hands were shaking like autumn leaves, as I opened it, to reveal it’s fragrant contents.

It was tooooooo  supremely delicious for words and it was at this point that we all decided that this was confectionary too precious to sully, even with the most considered of our reviews ……

It was all just too special.

There was also Harrods Clotted Cream Fudge contained within a glorious golden tin.

Now, we do treat ourselves to the occasional bag of Iceland Gold Collection Fudge (£1), but this Harrods version may have spoilt us for life …… it was crumbly, rich and ambrosial. It almost seemed wrong for a humble household such as ours to just chow on down on such delicacies  …….. but, somehow  …… we managed it!

And then, probably pièce de résistance, a very generous cylindrical box of Harrods cocoa dusted nuts of an almond type nature, we don’t have the words …….

Needless to say ……..

…… with such a truly heartfelt and perfect gift ……..

…… it was emotional, very, very emotional  ………

……. but, we soldiered on, embracing all said pleasures  …… and as such, we start the New Year with just a few of said dusted nuts left to savour during one of our evenings of televisual viewing, film or programme to be decided!  Happy, happy days …… thank you sooooooo much Hugh, what can we say?