Pattingham Scarecrow Festival

Yesterday morning, after listening to the Omnibus edition of the Archers Darrell and I felt that we ought to fill our lungs with clean, fresh air …… and how fortuitous and exciting it was that there was a Scarecrow Festival going Pattingham, a “posh” village just down the road from us …..

…… well,  it would have been rude not to go along and have a mooch, wouldn’t it?

Oh Mon Dieu,  it was so robustly fabulous, and soooooooo not Last Vegas, we felt very typically Englishified  and knew that we were well and truly back at home!

…… we paid £2 each to follow the red trail round to see over a hundred scarecrows in peoples gardens, shop windows …….

….. in the pub and also scattered around the village on benches, in the park and sitting walls.

We wore our festival badges with pride and tried to do the quiz …..

…… but in the end the excitement of what was around the next corner just became too much of a distraction!

Our favourite part was in the church ….. because we didn’t expect it to be filled with scarecrows ……..

….. and where both inevitably and naturally,


…… Nigel was hypnotically drawn to the bell ringing …..

….. and perhaps it’s best to leave it just there …… with no mention of Nigel hanging somewhat precariously,  without a safety net up in the belfry and the fire brigade being called out ……..!!!! Only kidding, he just had a little tug and left with a huge smile on his face ….. another tick on his bucket list and now, he said,  he could call himself an campanologist …. if only he could pronounce it! It was hard to drag the little fella away …… now saying that he wanted to live in Pattingham so that we could make a scarecrow of our own …..

He even found, he said,  a suitable house for us to move into as it was  for sale ….. however I said that a move was a little bit drastic if he just wanted to make a scarecrow and that I was sure we could sort something out at Castle Greysquirrel to facilitate his need to make one of his own!!  Happy Days … and Home Sweet Home!!!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

This morning Darrell felt sufficiently “up” and “normal” to go downstairs and get a brew on and then he brought it back up to bed for us …..

We confess to snuggling down again …. while we listened to the omnibus edition of the Archers ….. but tomorrow we will be back on track  ….. ready to robustly pick up where we left off all those weeks ago ….. Wolverhampton, life, work and all confectionery products of a new type nature had better look out …… THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN!!

Lucy Says We Are Lightweights Compared to Sir Simon Cowell!

Lucy came into our room early this morning and unceremoniously pulled the duvet off us saying “You lot are total lightweights when it comes to international jet setting! Do you see Sir Simon Cowell carry on like you three? ……… No you don’t!” ….. and then ….. didn’t we realise that if we looked downstairs we’d find that we’d got a new kitchen?

We did feel very ashamed  as we struggled to hoist the aforementioned duvet back onto the bed  …… and said that perhaps we might be up to looking tomorrow” ……………..

……At that Lucy flounced out of the room muttering something like “Zut alors, mon Dieu et mon rive gauche!” under her breath …. obviously all those hours spent in The Paris Hotel were not wasted!!!!

OMD……

Ooooooh mon dieu,  …. we are paying for the sins of our father(s)

All we want to do is lie very still … even going for a wee takes an effort of gargantuan proportions and further depletes our flagging energy levels.We have been told on very good authority that it takes a week to recover for every hour you are in the air …… so at this rate we will probably be able to move just in time to get our Advent Calendars out! OMD!!!!!!

DO NOT DISTURB ….

Oooooooooo Mmmmmmmmmmmm Ggggggggggggggggg

We are all suffering mahooooooosively from le jet lag …. it might take us some time to recover ….. we are taking nil by mouth!

We have been home for 24 hours now,  but we are still flying!

And So ….Home Sweet Home –Chez Castle Greysquirrel

Almost twenty four hours after saying a tearful  goodbye to The Luxor Hotel and Last Vegas we finally arrived back home to our beloved Castle Greysquirrel ….

It looked like home ………  it felt like home ….. it smelt like home!

John Wayne was still standing guard in the porch just as we’d left him ….. ooooooo it felt good to be home ……. but it was soooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooo, soooooooooooooooo, COLD!!!!

Nigel opened his eyes fleetingly when he realised we were home ….

…… and let out the most mahoooooooosive sigh.

And then we just dumped our suitcases in the hall and went straight to bed …… we were totally and absolutely cream crackered …. and there was no use fighting it, not even for a cup of proper tea!

Darrell had a quick check around ……

…… and then followed us up ……. it was good to be back home!

Farewell Last Vegas ….. We Knew You Well …..

Darrell and I were a trifle fatigued after partaking in a last night of double cocktails and bar snacks and so had decided to get as much sleep as we could on the journey home, Nigel on the other hand was bright as a daisy and eager to embrace every last moment of our holiday of a lifetime holiday.

There were a few very moist tears as we said goodbye to the Last Vegas sign at the airport for the very last time ……. 

…… but as he stood by the window watching our plane prepare Nigel started to ponder as to what our in-flight meals might consist of ….. as he mused, that he had not tasted English food for what seemed to be an age …. what is he like?

Once on board he carefully studied our route, we had to travel soooooo far, and England wasn’t even on the map yet, let alone Wolverhampton, only romantic names like Cedar Rapids and Los Angeles ….. which we can now all say, very loudly whenever we hear it mentioned “We’ve been there”!

Nigel took time to do a little on-plane lounging….. but since we had all been up since five o’clock his mind was very much on his in-flight breakfast and he found he couldn’t really put his heart into it…..

…… and studied the in-flight bumf to see if he could get a clue as to what to expect food wise, all he knew was celebrity chef James Martin had cooked it!

At last, breakfast was served, I couldn’t rouse Darrell and from behind my eye mask I told Nigel he was welcome to ours too, if he was still hungry. A little disappointed that it wasn’t bacon, egg and sausage, he still managed to tuck into a muffin, yoghurt and orange juice times three …

….. followed by coffee

….. and a slither of chocolate which he said helped ease his air sickness a little!

At around, what Nigel said his body clock was telling him was mid morning, he had another coffee and a Twix to tide him over until lunch time ….. by which time Darrell was snoring very loudly and I had to request an in-flight blanket for him …. placing it delicately over his head, hoping that our fellow passengers would not hear him!

And Nigel busied himself by filling in the in-flight questionnaire on our behalf, adding a few notes of his own …. suggesting that they put bacon, eggs and sausage on the breakfast menu for passengers like his good self who had missed “proper English” bacon during their holiday of a lifetime holiday!!

And then as we were flying over Canada luncheon was served much to Nigel’s great excitement ….. Darrell’s fatigue was contagious and I found it increasing hard to keep my eyes open so I told Nigel that he was most welcome to our meals too …..

A very helpful stewardess helped “Sir” with his in-flight bib, before he tucked into his James Martin stew times three,   which Nigel compared to school stew …. which made him hunger for his beloved Cook and Kitchen, as it seemed ages since he had last seen them.

Next came treacle pudding times three with custard incorporated, to save the stewardess’s having to pass the custard jug over the heads of passengers, which would have been a serious in-flight health and safety issue, especially should there be turbulence.

This was followed by cheese and crackers times three, after which Nigel had a little doze, only to be woken by the aforementioned stewardess who had helped him with his bib……

…. to ask if he would like a spare cob and cheese she had leftover from first class. She said she thought he might appreciate it as he seemed to have enjoyed all his (AND our) in-flight chow SO much!!!  She said that the whole crew had remarked that they had never seen anyone enjoy airline cuisine quite so robustly and with such vigour as Nigel!

…. and then slipped him the captains vanilla and ginger cheesecake!  What was she like?

After that Nigel has no recollection, even our arrival back at our beloved Castle Greysquirrel ….. he had finally succumbed to sleep and an incredibly full tummy!