OH DEAR–PROBLEMS WITH PHOTOGRAPHS ….

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear …… Darrell was trying to clear some of our photos on Picasa ….. as we have thousands and thousands of them, unfortunately he didn’t realise that the storage was directly linked to our our blog ……… and we rather think (in fact we know), that they are now permanently deleted ………… agh ….. which we have lost almost all our pictures from about January to June …… including his and Nigel’s Iceland trip ………………. this is a blogging disaster!!!

The only way to get them back is to look for them on Google images and then copy them …… this would be a labour of love and take forever ……. ohhhhhhh Darrell!! It’s a quandary as to what to do ……

Can you bear with us …… we did have a few posts in the pipeline …. but the pictures that went with them have “disappeared” too, so we may have to do a few impromptu photo sessions to get them up to speed again  …… which will take time  …… we’ll do our best ….. but we may have to be “off air” for a few days in order to do this ….. sorry!!!

Nigel’s Chocolate Of Choice

Nigel is usually exceptionally experimental with his confectionary, but at the moment he has become unbending in his penchant for Dairy Milk Oreo …..

…… it’s the only confectionary of his choice that is finding its way into our shopping trolley, which he insists is at it’s best after several hours in the freezer and then nibbled very, very slowly, preferably while watching Corrie or The Housewives of Orange County ….. what is he like???????

It Can’t Be Carnival Time Again?

OMG, all of a sudden you realise just how fast the year is flying by when you realise that Carnival Day has come round again again….. how did that happen so soon?

So naturally, yesterday, we assumed our usual position on wall in front of Castle Greysquirrel in expectant readiness for the parade …..

…… and it was good to see that our part of the road as per usual was  thronging with villagers, despite the inclement weather!

The pent up excitement outside the Castle was quite understandably both tangible and palpable, if a little damp ….. with Darrell and Nigel running up and down to see if the parade was coming, even though I had told them that they would hear the Marching Band coming for a good five minutes before they finally came into view.

And I was right ….. we heard the band coming for an aforementioned good five minutes and then we got our first glimpse of an organised police presence ……

….. followed by the said band ….

…. and the first float.

There then followed another couple of minutes when they were incomunicardo as they went round the block …… before coming back on themselves and onto our road……

….. which gave us time to check that we had an ample sufficiency of pennies for the “chuggas” with collection tins.

And then,  before our very eyes the parade was unfolding before us ……

It was all so romantic with Batman nonchalantly walking past and giving us a wave …….

….. followed by people dressed as buttons ……..

…… and Minions ……

……. and Alice in Wonderland …..

….. and octopus's ……

……… and gnomes …..

……. and a bobsleigh and a platoon of soldiers ……. all in the pouring rain!It was emotional ……….

……. and then, it was over …… and as we watched the man with a road sign escorted by an officer of the police (we assumed that they was part of the parade …..  and that the gentleman wasn’t under arrest for the pinching of said sign) ……

……we wondered who we needed to write to to get on a float next year …… that would be so tick a box on our bucket list!

My Saturday Afternoon Guilty Pleasure

On a Saturday afternoon, usually when Darrell and Nigel have gone swimming or to town I settle down on the settee to indulge my guilty pleasure …….……. to watch Columbo, which in my humble opinion, the best detective series ever, ever, ever  …… sometimes I have to spend ages on the remote trying to find an episode, usually hidden away on 5 USA but it’s sooooooo worth it!

It may be over forty years old and the format predictable …….
but I still love it!!  It’s my guilty guilty pleasure!

Well, It Didn’t Take Long To Find Out ……..

Yesterday, the window of the only gift shop in the village was bare,  “Save,” observed Darrell “….. for a couple of covered boxes that would add height and interest to a potentially eye catching display …!”

But when he looked again this morning, on his way to work ….. it was filled ……with baby stuff …… how very, very pertinent to our own jubilant family celebrations, it was if it was meant to be …..

We were all very impressed by the balloon towers …… but we are frightened that if we made a considered purchase and a then balloon was accidentally popped within ear sight of Tom and the Lovely Laura’s new baby (our new cherished niece)  it might startle little Iris and make her cry and we couldn’t bear that ………. a romantic idea …. but a little too risque for us now we are besotted uncles!

We have to be inherently sensitive and sensible about everything ……. our carefree days of random silliness and mayhem are well and truly over, with unclehood comes gravitas!

What’s Coming Next ……. The Great Debate

It’s always a very exciting occasion when the only gift shop in the village decides to change it’s window display …..

Darrell is always full of robust speculation on such occasions ….. the display generally follows a seasonal theme ….. so,  it was the Father’s Day gift ideas that have just been removed ……… 

However, since we can’t think of any feast days or holidays that are coming up, it’s a bit of a quandary …….

Darrell’s considered opinion is that it might be pertinent, yet inexpensive end of the school year presents for small children to give to their teachers, I am not convinced as it is still early.  No doubt the said window will be the subject of much debate over tea at Castle Greysquirrel tonight, thought I doubt it will become too heated ………. But, rest assured as soon as all is revealed we will naturally let you know, as you are probably all now on tenterhooks wondering,  just like us!!!

No No Big Brother

A number of people have e-mailed asking us where our usual sage comment and review of the new series of Big Brother has been, knowing what robustly avid followers we have been in the past ….. having once held dreams of taking part one year ….. but in the Celebrity version naturally ……

…… well, we have dipped in a couple of times this past week or so, but I say only dipped ……

…… because no matter how lovely and fragrant Emma Willis is ……

…… to be honest and without wishing to appear snobbish, this year they just don’t seem to be our kind of people ……

….. too much potty mouthing and squabbling …… and there, I think  we will leave it, this year we will not get embroiled …… and shall be mostly concentrating on finding out how we can get on Gogglebox!!!

A Very Muted Evening Ahead …….

We have been in two minds as to whether we should embrace tonight’s England v Costa Rica match, and after much debate, none of it heated, we have decided that it would be churlish not to continue our support and be seen as fair weather supporters ….

However, we are anticipating that it will be quite a muted evening …. with an equally muted football themed buffet styled tea…….. as Cheesy Footballs and Twiglets have suddenly lost all their celebratory lustre and might just have a propensity to stick in our throats a little.

Isn’t She Lovely, Isn’t She Wonderful

Before we went over to Worcester to see our little baby Iris, we decided that we ought to make a card for her, so she will know that we are her “Fairy” Uncles and how much we love her ……

We have to confess that we are strangers to the double sided tape gun and the careful and symmetrical placement of apt embellishment,  but we tried our very best,  because this was probably the most special card we have ever made….. 

…..  and we don’t think we did that bad a job ……

…….  in capturing our essence!!! 

And all the time we were working we all kept gazing at our computer screen and sighing at the picture Darrell put as a screensaver  ….. replacing the one of the England World Cup Squad!!  What are we like? 

On To Us A Child Is Born …

Yesterday, we had the most wonderful, wonderful news imaginable ……

Tom and The Lovely Laura’s baby has been born and we have become Uncles ……it’s been emotional at Castle Greysquirrel ……..

……. and we are not embarrassed or rufty tufty enough to admit that tears of a manly joy type nature have been shed ………… a baby ……how wonderful is that…… and makes our disappointment in England’s untimely ejection from the World Cup pale into insignificance, because we now have ………………… a new baby!

As soon as we heard we got out the small bottle of champagne we had bought especially for this glorious occasion, well it would have been rude not too.

So, our baby is a little girl called Iris, which is the most beautiful name we have ever heard and makes us sigh whenever we say it and she weighed in at 7lbs and 13ozs.  Tom says all is well and that she has done her first poo, which had us all sighing all over again ….. a poo!

We think we are all a little bit besotted already and will be going to see her in real life later this afternoon …… when I am sure more manly tears will be shed, plus the counting of tiny fingers and toes, but hopefully not too many poos!  Welcome to our little Iris …. our special, sweet, and cherished flower ……. we are going to be the best uncles ever, ever, ever!