Sunday 31 July 2011

A Weekend In Witney – Full English All The Way!

Naturally, after an overnight  stay in a reputable and very comfortable hostelry,  one is curious about the sort Petite Dejeuner they provide. 
Marmite on toast fior breakfast
They did not disappoint! I ordered a full English, it would have been rude not too with an assortment of toasts, brown and white…… But the piece de resistance and for me the sign of a quality establishment was that they served Marmite!  Not only that but it came in individual heart shaped pots, I know it’s considered very common, but a few of them fell into my pocket, I thought that they would make nice little presents for Darrell and Nigel.
Picture 263
After breakfast and packing, we went to Burford for the morning with the intention of feeding the ducks and perhaps another cream tea
Picture 258
It was so beautiful, with cottages with roses growing round the front door, shops selling lots smelly stuff that ladies like to buy and lots of tourists with cameras, a few even wanting to take my picture!
Picture 260
There was also an old fashioned sweet shop so I took the opportunity of purchasing 100g of pineapple chunks and 100g of Jelly Sprogs for Darrell and Nigel to go with their erm …. gratis marmite!
 Feeding the ducks
The ducks must have thought it was their birthdays as Andy bought the poshest loaf of bread I have ever seen from Huffkins to feed them with.
Picture 256
They came from every direction when they heard him rustling his carrier bag.
Picture 272
I have to admit that I too enjoyed a little of their bread …. it was quacking!  What a BRILLIANT weekend!

Saturday 30 July 2011

A Weekend in Witney - Huffkins

 My apologies again for the lack of continuity in this post …. you just can’t get the staff! Poor Auntie Jan must be having a heart attack as she is very hot on continuity type issues!
Picture 252
It was so nice to catch up with the Didcot/Witney monkeys who live with Tom the Scientist with the big brain and the Lovely Laura.  I hadn’t seen them since Christmas and they have grown up so much, but not so much as not to want to have a big snuggly snuggle with me!
Huffkins Witney
The Lovely Laura suggested that the place to partake in a traditional Cotswolds cream tea was Huffkins. The Didcot/Witney monkeys couldn’t accompany me as they had to go to their swimming lessons, but it would have been rude of me not to go along and sample their delights of a baked/iced/and filled patesserie type nature……..!
Picture 267
Nom, nom, nom  ….. it was almost impossible to have a cake of choice…..
Picture 266
….. but in the end I plumped for a vanilla slice ….. nom, nom, nom, nom, nom …..”Quelle fantastico cake!” as they say somewhere abroad. The filling was so light it almost floated above my plate!
Witney Bus Service
After my quintessential cream tea I  needed a little a stroll to help it go down, the High Street was very picturesque, like something out of an episode of Miss Marple and then I spied a Witney bus …. needless to say, it was not a patch on our Banga bus, with or without George ……. wherever he may be now.  This thought upset me a little so I walked briskly back to my hotel …… for a short nap.

Friday 29 July 2011

A Weekend in Witney

My apologies for my constant changes of apparel, it’s never happened before, but it seems that our usually efficient and faultless continuity girl seems to have enjoyed a few too many cocktails (strong Cuba Libre’s I suspect) in Hacketts (above) during our weekend!
hotel
Tom the Scientist with the big brain, who lives with the lovely Laura invited us all to stay for the weekend in Witney, the seat of our Prime Minister Mr David Cameron.  As there were so many of us, I said that I was quite happy to book into a hotel, especially as The Hotel Inspector is one of my most favourite TV programmes of choice, from which I have learnt much about the hotel industry and for fun I thought I could put my knowledge into practice!
I was booked into room Number 6 ……
Picture 246
…… which was dominated by a rather large picture of two cows ….
Cow Picture
…. which weren’t really to my taste and I wondered what Alex Polizzi, herself would have made of them. I later found out that there were cows in all the rooms, metaphorically speaking, and there was a bit of a theme going on .... my room didn't have a name but others were called The Laughing Cowvalier and From Me To Moo!.  If ever Darrell and I go into the business perhaps we should consider adopting a Primate-ical theme.... but we would not permit any activities of a swinging type persuasion in our rooms!!!!!

Picture 223
But the bed was most comfortable ….
Picture 213  Picture 241
….. with an assortment of bedtime reading material provided on the bedside cabinet.
Picture 214
The hospitality tray afforded sufficient liquid and biscuity refreshment……..
Hospitality Tray
….. and the view from the window was very interesting …..
Picture 218
….. as I couldn’t help noticing the unusual juxtaposition of the front door of the house opposite…..
Picture 224
Anyway Trip Advisor had advised me well and once unpacked and settled, it was time to explore the delights that Witney had to offer!
Picture 201
And just in case I bumped into the Prime Minister I thought I should dress accordingly, casual yet smart.

Thursday 28 July 2011

I’ll Have A Pea Please Bob!

After Nigel and the strawberry yield debacle, I hope we are not heading for another fall re: our 5 A Day self sufficiently projects …….
I'll have a P please Bob 4
….. and putting too much temptation in Nigel’s way ….
I'll have a p please Bob
….. as we thought we have a go at trying to grow a few peas for summer salads and a nutritious  accompaniment for our fish fingers and chips.
I'll have a P please Bob 1
The netting is not to keep Nigel out, but for the peas to grow up …
I'll have a P please Bob 2
Oh dear ….. you’ve only got to look at the glazed expression in Nigel’s eyes to see what he’s thinking ….
I'll have a P Please Bob 3
…… and no Darrell, electrical fencing is not an option!

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Nigel …..Come Here NOW!

Strawberry hanging baskets
We’ve got a strawberry plant growing in a basket, hanging from one of trees on the porch, which, I’ve noticed hasn’t been bearing much fruit and which  Nigel seems to have been paying a lot of attention too, so slightly suspicious, I decided to keep Nigel under surveillance, my eye on him ….
Strawberry eating monkey
At first it all looked very innocent, and I felt guilty for having my doubts…..
nom nom nom
…. and then as I watched for a little longer …..
nom
I discovered why our strawberry yield has been so low …..
Monkey eating strawberries
I don’t know who ate all the bananas, but I certainly know who ate all the strawberries!  What are we going to do with him?

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Oh To Be Alan Titchmarsh!

alan_titchmarsh
It must be so romantic to be Alan Titchmarsh mulching and dibbing all day and tending to his herbaceous borders.
bedding Plants
Gardening is just one big mystery to me …
Bedding Plants 1
I can’t tell my Dizygotheca elegantissima from my mimulus (monkey flower).
Picture 184

Monday 25 July 2011

A Surfeit of Bird’s Eye Fish Fingers

Free Bird's Eye Polar Bear
How spooky, just a day or so ago we were posing like the Bird's Eye Polar Bear and now we’re awash with Bird’s Eye fish fingers because when we were in the village Tesco we spotted this offer ….
Free Bird's Eye Polar bear Tokens
For only 6 tokens and a pound coin we can have a Bird’s Eye Polar Bear of our own (as long as stocks last), how brilliant is that?  In order to get enough tokens we needed to buy three packets of fish fingers, which could have been a little expensive, but as fate would have it the said fish fingers are half price at the moment…..  how fortuitous is that?
Picture 269
We all worked together to get the tokens cut out, the form filled in and the pound coin stuck on a bit of a card ready to catch the post.  It was all very exciting!
Picture 270
Naturally, we followed this frantic activity with a ten nom tea of fish finger and salad cream sandwiches …. nomtastic!
Fish Finger Sandwiches
“Do you know” said Darrell “I can feel the rich source of 12 Omega 3, which these fish fingers pertain to contain coursing through my body already!” …. and I swear we heard Nigel say something like “Me too” – what are they like!

Sunday 24 July 2011

Offering Hospitality To Homeless Hedgehogs.

Look what Tom, the Scientist with the big brain and who lives with the Lovely Laura sent us
Hedgehog House 1
It’s a hedgehog house for our garden, how BRIILIANT is that?
Hedgehog house 4 
Before we knew it Nigel had climbed in there, he was extremely excited, (we think) making plans for moving in with Marcel,  what is he like?
Hedgehog House 3
I explained that he and Marcel both had lovely homes and there was no need for them to move into the garden which wasn’t really their natural habitat…and anyway they would soon be knocking on the door when the first slug wandered across the threshold.
Hedgehog House 5
I explained that this was for homeless hedgehogs seeking shelter on a cold night and that once it was in situ he could help Darrell and I think of ways to entice vagrant hedgehogs to use it …..

Saturday 23 July 2011

Bird’s Eye You Missed Out On Us ….

Bird's Eye Polar Baer 3
Spot the difference …….!!
100-percent-campaign-banner
We love the Bird’s Eye Polar Bear, Clarence!   
birds-eye-polar-bear
He is our Frozen Food Idol.  We would very much like to pursue a similar career path  and see our helping Sandra the Resources Lady with emergency photocopying jobs as a stop gap before Harry Hill and/or an advertising agency find us!
Picture1
We thought we would try a few poses a la Clarence …..
Birds Eye Polar Bear
But we had to keep our vests on ….
Bird's Eye polar bear 1
….. because it was quite nippy and we all found that frozen peas tend to get into crevices of a very delicate type nature.
Bird's Eye Polar Bear 2
We know we need to anticipate the next trend to become the new faces of a re-launched product …. perhaps we should follow Clarence’s advice and get a portfolio together of us posing with bananas …….???
Bird's Eye Polar bear 4
With a face like Darrell’s how could anyone possibly say no!