Be Happy

I think there is a bit of a competition going on Chez Castle Greysquirrel as to who can find what on their way to work!  Sadly the “fallen star”’ that I found, which was precipitated  by a “feeling in my water” did not yield any anticipated good fortune re: my considered purchase of a euro millions ticket, but hey ho, c’est la vie!However, Nigel’s “finding” of yesterday morning did reap a robust muchess  …… as he found a pink heart tied to a lamp post that simply said “Be Happy”

…… which Nigel as he would, totally embraced ……

……. fair skipping for the rest of his journey to work ……

…… with the biggest “Be Happy” smile plastered all over his face ……

……. he was off to work in the kitchen with Cook Lady, where he had sauce sachets  to rotate and display in small wicker baskets at the sides of each till …… what wasn’t there to “Be Happy” about?????

A Spooky Feeling In My Waters

I think I may have got Nigel's bug for finding things!!!!! Yesterday I spotted a fallen star on the pavement on my way to work   …………….

….. and although I am not usually one for much frothy or whimsical thought, I have to admit that I did have, as Darrell would say  “a funny  feeling in my waters”  that this could be a sign of a spooky type nature of an impending something?

I gazed up to see if there were any more stars to follow …..

…… but there was only this one……..

….. so, I decided it would perhaps be best to leave it where it had fallen, but  at the same time made the robustly conscious decision to make a considered purchase of a euro millions ticket for tonight’s lottery draw …..  just in case the stars appearance to me and ensuing aforementioned feeling in my waters was of a prophetic significance, how could I  forgive myself for not acting upon it if my numbers came up?

Lost Sock Anyone…..?

Nigel is still spotting and “finding” lost things!  On Tuesday he noticed a dropped red and black stripy sock on the crossing just across the road from work, but because of it’s precarious position it would have been robustly foolhardy for someone as small as Nigel to bend over and pick it up, so that was it really as far as Nigel was concerned.

However, the following morning (Wednesday), Nigel noticed the aforementioned sock again …….. and someone had very kindly picked it up and put it on the wall for the loser to possibly reclaim.

Nigel is now eagerly anticipating his journey to school this morning, to see if the much mentioned sock is still there or not …… If only all our daily lives could be filled with such a simple yet tantalising thrill of expectation and mystery as Nigel’s ……… it must be a happy place to be ….. !!

Our Wonderful, Wonderful “Raised By Wolves” Adventure

I think it will be a quite some time before any of our feet actually touch the ground again …… as we are still floating on air after our Channel 4 “Raised by Wolves” adventure.

We made sure we were at Wolverhampton station to meet the coach with plenty of time to spare ….. and how spookily, the coach they used was from one of the companies I occasionally use for bus booking at work, so I knew we were in safe hands.

When the writers Caitlin and Caroline Moran and the stars of the show finally arrived on the train from London a whole host of photographers seemed to descend from all directions…..

……. it was so exciting it was hard to contain ourselves.

We’ve never seen so many cameras and couldn’t help but wonder how it must feel being really famous and photographed by so many and from so many different angles.

One photographer did ask who we were and we thought, momentarily, that perhaps we might be papped, but then the crisps came round and said photographer’s attention was quickly diverted from us to the choice of Walkers Crinkle Cut or Salt and Shake!

We settled for Crinkle Cut, but declined a Kit Kat for fear of looking too bold or greedy.

When everyone was settled, Caitlin Moran took to the microphone ……

…… and started to give us a very funny running commentary, pointing out all the landmarks and places she knew and frequented in Wolverhampton when she lived here …..

…… including our world famous man on the horse with the wrong legs!!!

As we drove round we all looked at our hometown with fresh, new eyes and realised just how romantic it was!

There was much excitement when the coach stopped outside what used to be Cait and Caroline’s  family home ……and everyone got off the bus to take more photographs …..

…… and we again wondered if one day people would stop outside Castle Greysquirrel to pose and perhaps knock on our front door to see if we were in and could possibly pose with them.

The people who lived next door must have wondered what on earth was going on as they in turn stood at the window and watched us.And it was there, that Darrell spotted one of the stars of the show, Helen Monk and went all misty eyed ….. I’ve seen that look before, first when he used to watch Cheryl Cole on The X Factor and then Stacey Solomon when she was in the jungle in I’m A Celeb!!!!!!!!!

 

From there we moved on to Cineworld for more photographs and the exclusive screening of two episodes of Raised By Wolves……..

…… and where Darrell plucked up enough courage to ask Helen if he could have his photograph taken with her …….

I’ll be honest it was at this point I thought he was going to spontaneously combust!!!  It’s not often that you see Darrell in bashful mode, but at that moment I just knew he was absolutely and robustly besotted.

So besotted, that all thoughts of availing himself of a Ben and Jerry’s chocolate brownie mini tub or bag of posh popcorn evaporated, but of which Nigel profited greatly!!!

The two episodes we watched were brilliant and very, very funny, although fortunately a lot of the “lady bits” went, thankfully, over Nigel’s head!  We are now, naturally, hooked and Raised by Wolves will now be set on record from now on Chez Greysquirrel.

The evening ended with the writers and cast being interviewed by Adrian Goldberg, who we have heard on the radio with questions invited from the audience, we were to shy to ask anything ….. but we made sure we clapped very loudly.

It will be funny now to be living in a “famous” city, like San Francisco or New York,  that could be seen all over the world and perhaps, one day, who knows  in a film.  We hope our friend Dianne who lives in Florida and who dreams of one day coming to England will get a glimpse of Wolverhampton via the internet and see some of the places we sometimes talk about.  We are so proud!

Thank you Lesley at Chanel 4 for asking us, and Cait, Caz, Helen and Alexa for making it so special, it was something we shall never ever  forget being part of ….. especially, I suspect Darrell!

A Time For Robust Preparation!

There is a very tangible and palpable air of excitement Chez Castle Greysquirrel that I can only compare with the night before we flew out to Last Vegas!  For tomorrow we shall be mixing and mingling with famous writers, actors and television people when we attend an exclusive screen preview of Channel 4’s Raised By Wolves written by Caitlin & Caz Moran, which also includes a very special (and probably romantic) coach tour of Wolverhampton, and the promise of “substantial refreshment”!!!!!  It’s all too much to really take in!

As soon as Darrell got home from work yesterday afternoon he began fussing and fretting about our outfits, deciding in the end, after consultating with Hugh, (his best friend and mentor who lives the showbiz life in Notting Hill) to go smart but subtly cazzzzz…….. 

……. which he then proceeded to spend, what seemed to be hours, ironing and laying everything out, including our socks and pants, “There was no way on God’s green earth,” he declared “….. that we will be seen to let Wolverhampton down!”

When he was finally satisfied that our wardrobes would not malfunction  he disappeared again to make some fairing gifts for our hosts, as it would be most rude to go empty handed … he also helped calm an increasingly nervous Nigel with assurances that when meeting people of a televisual type nature that curtsying would not  really be expected, except for perhaps if Bruce Forsyth tagged along!!!

Nigel …….. Flying Solo!

The last day of the holidays is always a little fraught, getting our usually robust “ready for work” regime back on track with clothes to lay out and lunchboxes to think about again ……

…… so distracting Nigel by asking him to undertake his first ever solo confectionary review seemed to be the perfect answer to occupy him and contain his erm…… “natural exuberance”!

Sitting him down at our testing table I told him to think very carefully before he awarded any noms and that I trusted him implicitly for a true and fair reflection of his findings.

I knew he was taking it seriously, when I heard him musing that he certainly wouldn’t be awarding any noms until he had tried every single jelly rabbit in the pack …..

…… using his own devised system of testing, The “TAT” Test (Texture, Appearance and Taste) for his considered evaluation.

Texture wise, they certainly didn’t make him squirm like I tend to do just at the mere thought of biting into one!  The jelly he said “ ……was soft as opposed to chewy, unlike some jelly sweets that seem just bounce off your teeth and have to be chewed forever!”

He also decided that they had very cute faces which were not immediately noticeable under their dusting of sugar, but when sucked they did look very much like the faces as illustrated on the packet!

And taste?  Well …….. hard put in words other than nom, nom, nom, right down to the very last one!

So after an hour and a half of tasting with all due diligence M’lud, plus much deliberation and said nomming ….. Nigel finally awarded the Easter Jelly Bunnies 56.756ins on our increasing complicated Richter Scale of Noms!!!

No Nom Nom, For Me Thank You!

I very much enjoy most confectionary, but, I am afraid I just cannot countenance even the thought of nom-factor of a jelly baby …..

……….. there is just something about the texture that makes me heave…..

….. the smell of them gets to me too, but that may be because I am pre-empting the said texture!  This all presents a problem, as we have been given a bag of Jelly Bunnies to review, and I just can’t!

So perhaps this might be the appropriate time for Nigel to fly solo and do his first proper review on his own …….. as I don’t think anything makes him heave, well, apart from Cliff Richard!

There Will Be NO Trash Can Challenge On My Watch!!!

Darrell has spotted a new sign outside the Woodman, the only pub in the village …..

……. and I don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know EXACTLY where his train of thought was going  …….

…….. AND I can tell you now, very robustly, very categorically and quite calmly, that there will be no going of any head to head challenge type nature ….. between him and Nigel!

We’ve been strangers to the salad bowl of late, mainly because the winter months seem to demand more of a comfort type food, but I need to get those two back on track, and they don’t need any adverse encouragement from our local hostelry!

Too Wonderful An Invitation

OMG, OMG, OMG ….. Darrell opened up our e-mails this morning…….and had such a humungous surprise that he almost spontaneously combust!!!  We had only been sent an invitation from Lesley, the Publicity Manager of Comedy & Entertainment at Channel 4, it said ……….

Dear Mum’s Monkey,
I hope you’re well.
We’d like to invite you to a very exclusive screening on Tuesday 24^th February to launch the brand new series of Caitlin & Caz Moran’s RAISED BY WOLVES.
However, this is no ordinary press screening… a very special coach trip is also involved! Not only will you be accompanied by the writers and creators, Caitlin & Caz Moran, but also joining us will be the two brilliant actresses who play their teenage alter egos; Helen Monks & Alexa Davies.
The trip will begin at Wolverhampton Train Station,we’ll board the coach with our very own Wulfrunians Caitlin & Caz, who will curate a unique tour of the city where they grew up – accompanied by some substantial refreshments. Forget local churches, and points of interest, this will be a no holds barred take on their hometown.
Once the tour has ended, the coach will take us on to Wolverhampton Cineworld where we’ll offer a first look preview of the first two episodes followed by a Q&A with the four ladies.
The invite for the screening is below - we really hope you can join us.
Look forward to hearing from you,
Best wishes,
Lesley

Well, I thought the house must be on fire when I heard Darrell shouting in a most unintelligible type nature from upstairs, so accompanied by Nigel, ran up to see what  the commotion was all about …… and when I saw the e-mail,  as I said at the beginning, OMG, OMG, OMG! 

What an invitation, and naturally we said yes, it would have been rude not to and the promise of “some substantial refreshments” on the coach, having nothing to do with our acceptance at all!!!  Although Nigel is already wondering what they might be!!!!

We are very honoured to be asked and so, much planning must ensue, like what to wear when you meet real live writers and TV stars in real life ….. which is also both suitable for coach travel and a “very exclusive screening”, which might possibly involve walking on a red carpet!!! 

Should we take presents? It’s almost all too much …… but very, very exciting at the same time!