Hmmm ….. A Most Unusual Erm ….. Gift.

One of Darrell’s more unusual Christmas presents this year was a candle, but not just any sort of candle ……….

……. oh no, this was a “Turkey and Stuffing” scented candle, a reminiscent whiff and waft of a most splendid Christmas dinner no less ……

……. an unusual gift from Hugh, Darrell’s best friend, confidante and mentor of all things of a fragrant and flammable type nature.

Obviously, such a quirky and unusual present has aroused much curiosity and speculation Chez Towers……..

……… especially it’s surprising meld of fragrance, so after a week or so of simply looking and having the odd cheeky sniff ………

……. Darrell finally decided to put us all out of our misery and light it. Well fortunately, I have to say, the bouquet de roast turkey element of said blend wasn’t obviously noticeable, if at all, instead, in Darrell’s humble expert opinion, taking into consideration his acute olfactory senses,  it was the sage, thyme and rosemary with perhaps a hint of parsley that came to the fore.

With Nigel chipping in, that it was indeed a rather subtle and refined herby sort of infusion, juxtaposed to a full on, in your face onslaught of a turkey, pigs in blankets, sprouts, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and peas sort of commingle, but also, as far away from “a Jo Malone” as you can possibly get!

What can I say? Except good grief, what on earth are they both like?

Houston We Have A Problem ……

It seems there’s been a bit of a shortage of a yellow bucket type nature of late in Evesham, not that we’ve actually been in need of one …….

…… however, yesterday after all the recent rain of late Nigel thinks he may have solved the problem as to why and where all said yellow buckets had gone…….

…… to wit, the all but bereft of shops shopping arcade, where the little fella was faced with an obstacle course of cones, hazard tape and yellow buckets just to find out whether our beloved Home Bargains had got any mini marshmallows for Darrell's festive hot chocolate.  For your information, they still had not!

It would appear that the roof has sprung one or two leaks, which doesn’t really doesn’t bode well for any “decking the halls” for the festive season as in past years, unless of course they are planning on constructing a pertinent illuminated Christmas tree of buckets, not a sensible idea, with all that water around though!

It’s rumoured that eventually it’s all going to be knocked down to make way for new flats, shops and entertainment purposes, if that’s the case, with winter and the cold weather fast approaching, Nigel suggested that they remove all the offending cones, tape and buckets, turn all the heating off and let the arcade become a wonderful, natural skating rink, to help raise money for more buckets for the new year, while waiting for any plans to be passed!

So ……. bring on the penguins! That boy’s nothing but a natural born genius!

A Most Wonderful Festive Find ……

We haven’t had time to post this before, but on Christmas Eve Darrell nipped up town to buy our festive sprouts from the small market as he has a huge thing about said seasonal vegetable being in its primest condition when served with our Christmas dinner ………

……. and as our very favourite charity shop of choice was open, it would have just looked plain rude not to pop in and have a little mooch wouldn’t it?

And boy, was our boy rewarded when this Santa throw leapt out at him …… for just £2.50! He returned home with his sprouts and throw held aloft, like a dog who had found a ball, two bones and a squeaky toy in his stocking!

It goes without saying that  it was in the washer (on fast wash) tout suite, followed by the dryer, to be on the sofa, reeking of festive fabric softener by mid afternoon, ready for us to avail ourselves of all its snug pleasures.

We’ve always had Christmas bedding,  as well as cushions etc, but never a throw,  so a new tradition has been born, especially where our festive televisual viewing is concerned.  The boy dun gud, very gud indeed!

Thank You Paula & Louise xxxxx

Christmas was so emotional, we received cards, presents and comments that made us feel so very loved and blessed in a special festive edition of Hello magazine type nature.

We saved the present from Paula and her daughter Louise until after Darrell’s triumphant and magnificent Christmas dinner to help keep the magic going.

Oh …my … goodness …me …….

…… nothing says Christmas more than a Terry’s chocolate orange, which most probably are sadly unavailable in hot and torrid Mexico Mr D, so we enjoyed our set of triplets, singularly on Christmas evening, Boxing Day and then Bank Holiday, savouring their delights on your behalf as well as ourselves. What are we like? Thank you so much Paula and Louise xxxx

Thank You Seaside Karen xxxx ……

We had very special Christmas card this year from our beloved follower Seaside Karen, who two years ago entrusted us her wonderous knitted nativity, in memory of Nigel’s many nightly vigils outside the now defunct MotorWorld, back in the homeland.

We have never ever been sent a hand painted card before, so you can just imagine how emotional its opening was, I’m not embarrassed to admit there that there were a not a few unfettered, manly sniffs wiped away.

Seaside Karen (because she lives by the sea, of which we are so jealous) had painted us a view of her favourite beach hut and as if that wasn’t enough, she’d cut two doors in said hut to reveal a row of beach huts that it’s part of, in the snow.  It was all just toooooooooo romantic and special for words.

The card is now kept safe in our treasure box, but it will be put out every Christmas from henceforth, it means so much. Being by the sea on Christmas or Boxing Day has always been one of our long felt wants for years, perhaps Karen’s card will turn out to be a talisman for the future!

What can we say, except “Thank you Karen” ……..we absolutely adore it, the sentiment and kind thought will just keep giving. Thank you xxxx

Relentless Festive Scratching

Well, we scratched unrelentingly throughout the month of December, our most favourite month of the year, thanks to our beloved No.1 Fan, Jan the Fan’s wonderous gift of an Advent scratch card………

Did we win?

Well, we held out until the very, very, very last day …………. still with our fingers crossed ……..

…… but to no avail.

To be honest, the twenty four days of non stop robust and prolonged excitement, not to mention anticipation were present enough …….. and if we’d won more than £20, well, it could very well have changed us ………. lol …… what are we like?  Thank you very, very, much again Jan the Fan, it was a gift that gave over and over again xxxx

Cleaning Up The Festive Aftermath …….

Oh my goodness, while the whole of December is our most favouritist of favourite of times, the same cannot be said at all for the first week of January ………

…… when, after full on a week or so of festivities, everything that was so lovingly set out and arranged in the last week of November by Darrell, has to be put away again for next year……

…… but why, despite The Towers having almost seemingly Tardis like cupboards, does nothing go back as easily from whence it came?

So once more our annual festive clear up has turned into one mahooooosive and very unseasonal spring clean, with piles of bags lined up in the hall destined for the bin, at least three shopping trolley loads of stuff put aside for Darrell to take up to the charity shops of Evesham when he has the time……..

…… leaving no surface left un-Pledge-d, no window uncleaned and no cupboard or drawer unscrubbed and totally rearranged.

All this before we can even think about finding new homes for all of our wonderful Christmas presents and other new bits and pieces, aggghhhhhhh!

This mayhem has also regretfully caused us to get rather behind with one or two of our seasonal posts as we still have a few festive things to share with you, but once we’re all clear, it should be very much business as usual!

What are we like?

It’s 2023 ……..

Let’s just say New Years Eve/New Years Day were emotional! We celebrated with our traditional New Years sleepover with our beloved niece and nephew, which it couldn’t have been more perfect, with a full and varied Chinese takeaway, Frozen (the film) karaoke, Celebrity Lego Masters and an episode of “Is It Cake?” with popcorn, a few presents kept back from the Christmas tree ………..

….. but without doubt one of the quaffable highlights had to be young Master Bertie’s mocktails!

He really is quite the expert mixologist, taught by the master himself, Darrell ……..

…… who as always kept a very keen and proud, but not interferant  eye on his young protégé ……

……. partaking enthusiastically in the delights of his labours ………

…… to wit a cheeky “New Year Sunset”, consisting of lemonade, bubble gum pop, sweet mango syrup, vanilla cola syrup, lemon sherbet syrup with a generous measure of strawberry sherbet powder.  According to Darrell a non inebriant triumph!

There was also, although not all that blue, Bertie’s “Blue Skies on a Dismal Day” made from blue bubble gum pop, rosy apple and vanilla cola syrup, a splash of lemonade and a sprinkling of sherbet. In Darrell’s expert opinion an alchemist’s dream par excellence …….

As were his “Strawberry Lemonade” and “Green Leaves”. The boy dun gud!  What better way to leave the old and travel to the new ……… happy, happy days!

Happy New Year–It’s 2023!

It’s Christmas ……….

What are we like?