We’re Backing Mae ……..

With 53ish days to go ……we have to admit that when we first heard the UK's entry for the Eurovision song contest, the televisual highlight of our year, we weren't immediately enamoured ........

....... however, after talking in great depth to Hugh, Darrell's best friend and aficionado of all things cultural, tres en trend and obviously Eurovisional, we're everso gradually coming round to "the vibe".

Hugh says it's very current and in sync with what's happening in the clubs at the moment and if it gets plenty of air time in and around said clubs in Europe, it stands a pretty good chance, perhaps not getting all les douze points ……..

…….. but certainly enough to get it into the top ten places, with Ukraine, another good entry this year, the one to watch!  

We shall see ……….

New Milky Bar Gold – A Review

Not entirely on an Easter chocolatey type nature, but when Darrell spied a lone bar of Milky Bar Gold in amongst the confectionary boxes of our beloved Home Bargains, it would have been remiss, not to mention incredibly rude, not to bring it home with him, especially when Milky Bar is our all time, most favouritist, white chocolate of choice in the world.

Well, you can imagine the excitement that ensued Chez Towers as Darrell walked in, proudly holding the chocolate aloft, amidst gasps of awe and wonder from Nigel and myself, as we didn’t even know that such a stupendous bar had been invented yet ……. needless to say a hasty and totally unprepared for review was immediately called.

Upon unwrapping the first thing that hit us was the unmistakable, sweet, rich caramel aroma, although the chocolate itself looked exactly the same as any other bar ……..

….. but the taste, OMG, let’s just say it certainly ticked all our white chocolate boxes in spades, but it is, perhaps, not for the faint hearted, as it is sweet, really, really sweet and very, very caramelly.

It was so glorious, that we threw caution to the wind and each far exceeded the recommended dosage serving, but we just didn’t care, reasoning that it would have been just too tempting to put back in the cupboard for another day. It would have simply beckoned to us, like a wanton confectionary siren, until it was all gone. So we were all of the same mind to enjoy all of its pleasures in one fell, but considered swoop.

So our score on the new Milky Bar Gold is an perfect and unanimous Eurovisional douze points on our world famous Richter Scale of Noms.  It’s absolutely lovely, with Darrell sent back to the aforementioned Home Bargains like Oliver Twist to ask if they have any more!  What are we like, if not a little obsessed at the moment.

Take A Break Fate & Fortune Magazine …….. Darrell Is Sort Of Published!

Oh my goodness, you can only imagine the excitement that thronged The Towers on Friday morning when Darrell finally received “the” e-mail from Take A Break, Fate and Fortune Magazine, heralding him as a noted, published author …….  and it was out already!

There was no doing with him!

He was all for rushing in to town to get a copy, but as Nigel was already up there, I told him to just sit down and try to calm himself, while I texted Nigel to nip into W H Smith for him …….

…….. promising, under Darrell’s strict proviso, that he wasn’t as much as to take even the tiniest of peeks of said magazine until it was sat sitting safe on our dining room table, so we could read and admire Darrell’s “raisin to be/life’s blood” together ……..

Once he’d secured his quarry, he was to come straight home, without delay or detour, taking a taxi, at Darrell’s expense if needs must, however, this he declined, choosing instead to run all the way home.

Those ensuing 20 minutes of waiting were absolute agony ……. with Darrell pacing up and down and needing to go to the loo every couple of minutes …….

…… until, at last, we heard the little fella’s key in the door and we all rushed to sit sur la table!

Then there it was, laid before a quivering audience ……..

…….. the magic of Darrell’s holey stones, but it seemed an awful lot shorter than Darrell remembered ……….. and so, after finding his original submission, it was with a heavy heart  that Darrell found he was right, his letter had been tweaked ……..

“Finding Comfort In Stones

Some people look at finding a white feather or seeing a robin in the garden etc. as a sign that their loved ones are watching over them. However, when I am away, by the sea in particular, my thoughts and memories of my own loved ones seems to intensify and this is when I quietly ask them to send me a "holey stone" as a sign that they are with me, and to date, comfortingly, they have never once let me down.

I thought at first that looking and finding this particular type of stone was just something peculiar to me, but when I did a little research I found that I was not alone. They are known by several different names such as hag, witch or fairy stones and according to folklore are said to hold magical protective powers to bring good luck and ward off misfortune and negative energy if  worn or carried. They have also been used to prevent nightmares if hung on a bedpost or placed under a pillow by the sleeper and protect boats in stormy weather.

Even if there only appears to be very few pebbles on a beach I never fail to find one. Sometimes it feels as if I am being made to "work" for one by having to look for ages, other times I simply gaze down to discover one right at my feet. Some are tiny, others are quite large, but I know as soon as I bend down to pick one up, it was put there for me.

The "spookiest" place I have ever found one of my stones was on a gravel verge on the estate I had just recently moved to. It had been a huge upheaval, to a completely new area and in those early days I found myself wondering if it had been the right decision. The stone reassured me once again that I being watched over and my new life was meant to be.

I always bring a few stones back from my travels, they stay with me for a little while and then I return them for the sea to wash over them and perhaps be found by someone else, like me looking for a sign.”

In among all the other fascinating and intriguing articles and letters it appeared that poor Darrell had crushingly been cut short, pruned, sheared, truncated , not to mention abridged.

He isn’t quite up to questions being asked in Parliament just yet ……

…….. but, it has to be said, it’s taken the wind right out of his aspirational sails as far as any future authorship is concerned.

However, in an effort to buoy up his somewhat flagging spirits, he’s decided that his cheque, for £25, when it arrives, will be put towards excellent good use, to wit a fish and chip supper during our upcoming (thank you Santa) trip to Weymouth …… where no doubt he will take the opportunity to look for a few more holey stones as a sign of what he should do next ……..

……. not finding a holey stone meaning he should give up the pen …….. which all seems rather drastic at the moment,  but hey ho, we shall see.  However, I can’t help wondering if the aforementioned fish and chip supper might also include a cheeky pot of curry sauce?  What am I like?

Under Starter’s Orders ………

We’ve been in receipt of a couple of packages from Severn Trent of late, as Darrell has been ordering everything of a pertinent water saving type nature from their website under the “savewater save money” scheme……..

……. which, as we are very much “on the meter” as far as our water is concerned, is of robust importance to our budget.

It’s all been rather exciting, with Buffaloo bags to put in our cisterns ……….

…… all manner of tap thingies, which we’ll have to find a person what does to fit, as we’re total strangers to the machinations of The Towers plumbing.

We’ve also got SwellGell to pass on to The Lovely Laura for her raised beds and planters and any other exciting planting occassion she may have  ……..

…… plus ample dye tablets to detect any unwanted toilet tank leaks we may be at present unaware of. 

But, most exciting of all are our timers, one for the shower, set at four minutes per whole body scrub………..

……. which might be of greatest challenge to Darrell. One or two of his routine ablutions may have to be cut short or even curtailed to not quite so often from now me thinks.  However, I refuse to share said four minute shower, as suggested by Nigel, in order to save even more money, we haven’t reached that stage of budget led intimacy just yet and hopefully never will.

And speaking of the little fella, he’s now has to re-educate himself in brushing his teeth for full two minutes without leaving the tap running ……….

……. which no doubt will give him something to chatter about at his up and coming scrap and polish with his very favourite Dental Hygienist Jo in the next week or so.

I feel we’re very much under starters orders as far as our personal hygiene is concerned, but we cannot afford to let standards slip. Still, it will be very interesting to see how our next water bill pans out after all this prep and effort!  Happy less water days!

Voter ID - Darrell Is Not A Happy Bunny

You may remember back in January when Darrell was not a happy bunny after his photo was rejected on more than one occasion by GOV UK when we were all applying for our new passports ………

……. well, he’s not all that happy himself with the image that they finally accepted …….

……. especially now, when from May 2023 we legally have to show Voter ID whenever there is any sort of local or general election ……

……. so he is very seriously contemplating about applying for a Voter Authority Certificate instead, as the embarrassment of someone doing a double take and then trying not to guffaw when he presents his passport, would just be tooooooooo mortifying for words.  What on earth is he like?

Whoosh To The Rescue

Oh my goodness, yesterday morning we had an emergency, we were suddenly expecting “unexpected” guests, who were arriving at around lunch time and Darrell was in the most almighty panic as we didn’t have a single crumb of bread to proffer (as we’re not partaking of it at the moment), let alone anything to put between any said bread, in any shape or form!

There wasn’t time to nip to the shops, even at Nigel’s speediest, so I’ll be honest, I was expecting tears …… but then Darrell, too overwrought to speak properly, suddenly went “Ahhhhhh” in joyous tones, as he had  suddenly an Ulrika ka ka ka  moment  and made haste to our laptop, almost setting the keyboard alight …….

……. and going as far from his usual retail comfort zone as I’ve ever seen him, logging into our Tesco account and the Whoosh section, in the hope that it could possibly bring home his/our bacon. LuLu had mentioned it to him last time she was down, saying how good it was  ……. could it now save his reputation as the consummate host?

Well, at 8.59, within a second or two of pressing the checkout button, he received a text confirming his order

……. swiftly followed by three more messages ………

……… and within 20 mins of placing his order, it was sat sitting in our kitchen, every item accounted for!

Let’s just say it was emotional, very, very, very emotional ……..

Tesco and Alin M (c/o Uber) had saved the day.  Never have ham salad baps with crisp accompaniment  tasted quite soooooooo fabulous before, with Darrell vowing that never again will a comestible emergency threaten the serenity and sangfroid of The Towers again, Whoosh is just toooooooooo wonderful for words!