Birthday Celebrations by the Sea.

As mentioned in my last post we were at the coast for Himself's birthday last Friday.
Before we left went to see the new Star Trek film, which was ok, much too long and not as enjoyable as the first one, though thumbs up to Benedict Cumberbatch who was a magnificent villain.

Friday morn I presented Himself with his presents. It was a big birthday and he had steadfastly refused a party, going out or going away so I came up with the (at the time) magnificent idea of buying him 40 presents for his 40th.
If only I would have known just how damn hard, and just how expensive that would prove to be!

I figured for me it would have been to easy, you know tons of nail polishes and other biddy bits, but for a bloke, and one who just goes right out and buys things when he wants them irrespective of whether it's a week before his birthday/christmas/etc or not, well it proved to be a nightmare and it nearly broke me.

I started a few months early and was quickly just over 20 gifts so I got blaze, I was well on the way and had ages to go.......... Suddenly I found myself with 10 days to go and about 15 gifts still to find......FUUUUUUUCK.
 Let me tell you that man of mine ended up with wine, lots of bags of sweets and the 40th gift was a box of Jaffa cakes!!
As a quick overview I got him a couple of shirts, t-shirts, some award wining vodka, The Avengers on Blu Ray, Star Wars books, various lego mini figures, commissioned him some Star Wars dog tags and an anniversary bracelet, a vintage traveling wash case and tickets to the 40th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Show. 
By the time he got through opening that lot we had to rush for our train so we ended up taking the breakfast bottle of Fizz and drinking it en route from plastic cups! We are all about the class, oh yes.

Margate was as wet and windy as anticipated, though it suddenly cleared when I had to head out to meet my sister for which I was very grateful.

It looks glorious right? sadly it didn't last. Gabs and I had a great night. I finally got to give her her birthday gifts too (only 2 months late!) and take her out for dinner. We both ate lamb and drank some more fizz, bliss.
Next day it was my friend Kay's birthday so whilst Himself went to catch up with his old boss I delivered some more presents and spent the day drinking oceans of tea, eating cake and talking nineteen to the dozen while the rain hammered down outside.
I got back to the in laws just in time to get changed and head out for dinner as it had also been Himself's Dad's birthday that week too!
We ate delicious Italian food and then battled through the driving rain to the nearest pub for more liquid celebrations.

Sunday we went out for breakfast with one of Himself's best friends before collecting our bags and moseying to the station via the Old Town to see how much of an effect being a Mary Portas pilot town has had on Margate.
It was heartening to see a fab new pub/bar and loads of other little shops that have opened in the last 6 months in that area.
It really is vibrant and buzzing, with vintage and independent shops, galleries and of course across the road the new Turner gallery.

                    Not the most attractive building but it's certainly pulling the visitors in.

Sadly the rest of the high street is still a mess and until they sort out the run down seafront I don't think things will ever go back to how they were even when I first started visiting 15 odd years ago. Back then I can remember having to stand all the way down because the train was so packed with families loaded with sandwiches, towels, buckets and spades.
I truly hope they get the retro theme park idea for the old Dreamland site going (http://www.dreamlandmargate.com), though as the years go by it seems doomed to wallow in red tape and never get off the ground. It would be the making of the seafront and the resurrection of Margate.

Musical Nostalgia, A Frock and A Bag.

Last night Himself went to the cinema again and instead of knitting I ended up browsing YouTube. I went on there to find Ellie Goulding's song Explosions as they keep using it on ITV for trailers and I wanted to hear it all the way through as I love her voice on the song.
I also listened to some others to see if I liked more of her stuff, turns out I don't. I love her voice but not what she sings with it, oh well.
Anyways so you know how they always have a list of other stuff on the right hand side, I never know if it is a 'other people who listened to this track also listened to these' list or a similar sounding songs to the one you have just listened to list, but I spotted an old 80's Glam/Hair metal tune called 'Waiting for the Big One by Femme Fatale' and yes it is as cheesy as the title makes it sound but I clicked the link anyway.........

That was the rest of my evening gone in a wave of video watching nostalgia as one list at the side leads to 'oh there's a good track' or 'I haven't heard that in years!' or 'I wonder if this is on YouTube? It is, excellent.'
I had forgotten just how many gorgeous long haired boys there were that I used to swoon over, I watched them and swooned again, I got quite carried away. Instead of going to bed I was still up when Himself got in and subjected him to another hour of me playing songs and reminiscing until his eyes glazed over from how I saw this band play in London, or I saw this band live in L.A or I was at the show where they filmed this video! On and on I wittered lost in the rose tinted past.

I forget these days that music was my life then, I lived it, breathed it, and went to see it instead of eating. God how I wish I had kept a diary there is so much I can't remember (actually that is probably no bad thing in some cases!) I blush at how little clothing I used to wear but I had youthful arrogance and 50 pounds less weight on my side. I marvel at the fact I survived fairly unscathed from the insanely stupid and dangerous things I thought were a great idea at the time. I wonder what the hell all those gorgeous boys look like now and what the hell they are doing now.
I also like to smile at the irony that Himself and I would never have got together back then as I was into Glam and he was into Death/Thrash metal and never the twain shall meet, the fans just did not mix back then oh no. I did finally go to bed, good job I wasn't at work today really.

We have a long weekend as it is Himself's big birthday tomorrow and we are off to Margate to enjoy the bracing sea air ie; be blown to shreds by the gale force winds and driving rain. Oh I do love the British seaside!

This morning I received two wonderful purchases in the post. As I have said before the downside of selling on Ebay is I end up browsing and buying on Ebay.

I found this rather lovely Pearl Lowe dress, as you know I have a thing for her frocks.....

and this one just happened to be purple and new with tags too, even better.

I also found this stunning vintage lucite bag. Photos just do not do it justice it's an absolute beauty.

I'm a happy girl.

Bank Holiday Fun in the Sun.

No idea what's going on with our weather this year, first we have an endless winter and then a hot and sunny Bank Holiday!?!
Unheard of!
Usually they are cold and wet and we Brits gamely carry on in the rain and the storm because it is a national holiday dammit.

Anyway this year it was wonderfully sunny and what a difference it makes. I got to knock off work slightly early on Friday and came home to a huge plate of fishfingers and chips (diet what diet?) and a delicious glass of wine. It's the little things you know.

Saturday my brother asked me to advise him one bit of his garden, he promised faithfully he wasn't expecting me to do any work, honest guv, just look at it............a couple of hours later and I'm scrubbing mud off my hands having been roped into weeding, lifting and splitting perennials and transplanting shrubs. Yup I never learn.

Sunday I actually got to spend in my own garden, after a delicious boiled egg breakfast, as I say it's the little things (and in my case they always seem to involve eating!)

Monday I was up and off out with the girls. We had a blissful day at Buscot Park a local National Trust property for some gentle ambling about, much gossip and of course the compulsory Cream Tea. 
I haven't been there for more years than I wish to mention. That time I was a wide eyed art student studying The Pre-Raphaelites as part of my Art History course. My brave tutor took a minibus load of us to see the wonderful Briar Rose Panels by Edward Burne Jones

and Pandora's Box by Rossetti

After which we ran screaming through the gardens and to a man decided to roll down the bank towards the lake much to the horror of a party of pensioners walking round the grounds at the time!

Of course this time I was perfectly behaved and it was wonderful not just to see the Briar Rose panels again, (I have a life long love of Burne Jones) but also many of the other amazing art works the family have collected over the years to form the Faringdon Collection.
 As I say it's been many years since I was an eager art student but I surprised myself by recognizing the artist of a few pictures just by the style in which they were painted. Clearly some things stuck in my brain during my time at college despite my best efforts to drink/smoke/party it into submission, miraculous.
I particularly loved the few pictures by Eric Ravilious another artist I really like.

                            (Not one from the Faringdon Collection but one of my favourites.)

No photography was allowed in the house so all of mine were taken in the gardens which were stunning, here are a few

You'd think from these there was no one else there but the place was packed with people, I had to wait quite some time to get that last picture without anybody walking up the steps!

we had to queue for quite a while for our cream tea but it was well worth it, quite delicious. All in all we had a wonderful day out and I definitely won't leave it so long between visits next time.

Only downside? No biggie,  but it would have been nice to have some manner of little gift shop, I am a woman who likes to shop after all, and the incredibly rude lady working in the ticket office. Admittedly they were very busy but everyone we saw in the queue round us was cheery and good natured, just patiently waiting to pay, so I could see no reason for snarling at us as she did. We did come out ticket in hand feeling somewhat savaged and I was left to quote Himself, who once pondered 'what makes a person choose a job where they have to work with the public when they clearly fucking hate people?'

My Week in the Sun.

 Last week I had a long overdue week off work and it was wonderful, mind 2 hours back in the office this morning undid any of the good work the week off did me, but that's another story!


The plan was to do some of the jobs that have been waiting to be done around the house and get out into the garden which is in a pretty shocking state for someone who claims to be a keen gardener!

Boy did I pick my week well weatherwise. I got to spend most of the week up to my elbows in compost, bliss.

Monday ended up being all about the family. First my brother came over, then he left and my parents arrived. Not that I am complaining because it was lovely to see them all and Ma and Pa also took me to the local garden centre where I bought lots of bargains as they had reduced loads of their spring bedding plants.
My Mother gave me grief for wasting money on rubbishy half dead plants but a good soaking and a bit of TLC and she had to eat her words.

                                                         £2 worth of pansies

Tuesday I headed into town for a bit of manic shopping. I cannot say why it was manic, other than it is all to do with Himself's birthday next week, I have set myself a challenge I am now regretting.....

Sadly the charity shops were pants. All I got was the wee wire piggy for 75p *Bah* I was most disappointed.

I spent the rest of the day and all of Wednesday battling weeds (ground elder in particular, damn it and it's endless root system) and restoring order to my flowerbeds. They are mostly weeded, mulched and strewn with flower seeds.
Three down.....

One to go!

It was a tad windy so I had my hair tied up in a scarf in my best landgirl stylie. This meant instead of looking like I had stuck my finger in a socket when I got in, I was sleek and smug, that was until Himself pointed out the state of my neck.

                                            Sunburn/Windburn developing = Ouch.

I did also manage to blitz the bedroom, list a load of stuff on Ebay, read 3, yes 3 books!!! and most exciting go to the cinema in the afternoon on a cheeky date with Himself. We went to see Iron Man 3

I LOVED it! but then it's no secret I'm a fan of comic book hero/action films. Roll on Thor 2.

Finally before you have dress withdrawal I did find this green beauty on Ebay.

Water, water everywhere, but I have a new hat and bag.

This week, Oy, it was enough to try the patience of a saint. Thank the lord for wine, chips and shopping is all I can say.

Tuesday night I had just hollered to Himself that dinner was ready and sat down when he said "Come here a minute" (he was upstairs getting changed after work)
Me "Why? I've just sat down"
Himself "You've got to see something"
Me "Nope, I've just started eating it can wait". Himself comes downstairs and says the bathroom floor is soaking wet.......and it was.
Cue me giving up on my dinner and spending the next half hour moping up and placing strategic containers under the culprit (the toilet AGAIN!!) whilst Himself tried to rustle up some kind of response from our rental agency and landlady's cousin up the road. Two hours later it was established that the cousin was at work and none of the agency's 3 emergency plumbers was able to come out!?! but one of them did helpfully explain how to switch the loo off at the valve so at least no more water was going in to end up on my bathroom floor.

Next day the cousin arrived with his plumber who had 'fixed' the toilet last month and decided it was the handle that was leaking???
 Now not only is the handle ABOVE the waterline but the water was coming from under the cistern and not down the front as you would expect if it was pouring out of the handle. They replaced the handle and said the toilet was definitely fixed now.

Thursday morning I got up and got ready for work, no flooded bathroom, great stuff. Went downstairs to make my essential to being able to function in the morning cup of tea and not only is the kitchen ceiling raining, the floor is under an inch of water. I turned the early morning air blue.

Now as a rule I am a very happy, calm and placid person, it takes an awful lot for me to loose my temper but in the words of my friend Murray, the red mist descended.
Food was ruined, some of my things were ruined so I lost the plot big style. Himself assessed the situation in a flash and bustled me out of the door to work. I will deal with this he said.

By lunchtime I had just about calmed down again when Himself texts me 'ring me' he says, so I do.

Now apparently the cousin and the plumber have been round and they cannot figure it out, they think we are wrong and it's not the toilet, it can't be the toilet because they have fixed it, so they turn it back on again. They decide it must be the bath, so they fill it twice with water to see if it is leaking but it isn't. They don't want to take the panel off the side of the bath because that would ruin it and then we would need a new one.

Their conclusion?

a) it has taken 24 hours for water from Tuesday's leak to find it's way through the ceiling
or
b) that that when one of us had our shower that morning we had forgotten to make sure the shower curtain was inside the bath. 

I kid you not!

You know what? it's a damn good job they said all of that to Himself and not me or I might be in a cell right now for plumbercide.
The cousin would call round between 6pm and 9pm when we are both home to discuss it. The red mist descended again and poor Himself was left with a cauliflower ear from my ranting, but oh boy was I ready for that discussion!

I mean SERIOUSLY??  Water taking over 24 hours to get through a ceiling? or a ceiling flooding a kitchen from a incorrectly placed shower curtain whilst the bathroom floor is bone dry? Yeah right.

Himself got home at 4.30pm to be greeted by this

in the second picture you can start to make out a rectangular shape right? That is the pedestal of the toilet!
So the cousin and plumber come back out and agree that as water is pretty much coming through the light fitting at this point that it's serious.
They are still perplexed however by where it is coming from. They check under the bathroom sink, nope, so they try to get the side panel off the bath because it has to be the waste pipe.
 The cousin is kneeling against the toilet pedestal at this point and gets wet.
Bingo!
They finally agree it must be the toilet after all! They switch it off and this time take the cistern off and this is what they found.

Lots of mould from the first leak (nice!) and that the seal at the bottom of the cistern had perished making the metal plate underneath rust right through and yes that's right leak water.
So yeah, we were right, it was the toilet and it was coming from under the cistern where it apparently isn't meant too, yay for us or something.

Anyways the toilet is now 'fixed' again. I'm cautiously optimistic.
Before eating chips and drinking some well deserved wine I got to spend my Friday evening cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom........again!

There was some light to my week. Behold I spotted this awesome vintage bag on Ebay and for the princely sum of £3 plus postage it was mine.

I bloody love it's beaded lucite handled gorgeousness. It's decent size too for an evening bag.

Finally on the day of Mrs T's funeral I was due for an Alexander Technique session but it was cancelled so I went to the Helen and Douglas House Vintage and Retro shop instead and bought myself a rather splendid black hat.
 I did try on a fabulous men's bowler hat that was too small *weep* (god how I wish that one had fitted it was so fab), a top hat that was too big and a pith helmet that just looked mental before settling on this beauty.

It's a little bit bent at the back but who cares? it's not broken so that's fine by me. Bizarrely they also had two vintage milkman's caps but they were pretty mouldy so I declined trying them on.

Next week I am off work and plan to do lots of gardening and a little shopping, huzzah for holidays.

Blouses, Onions and Aliens.

Another busy week but I have been positively chipper now the weather is warmer. I did get out into the garden on Sunday and after 5 hours of work I was tired but satisfied.

                                                                 Spring!

I did battle (and lost) with one of my compost bins but managed to get enough out of it to mulch the veggie patch and get my potatoes and onions planted. I also dug up, split and replanted the strawberries, weeded the rockery and one flower bed. No wonder I was knackered!  

The sticks are to stop the local cats making this their toilet as is their habit the moment I dig it over.I also seem to have a rogue daffodil!
I do need to go to the garden centre to get some more compost but in the meantime I bought some gorgeous pansies at the market for a fiver.

I managed to get some socializing and shopping in around the work schedule this week too. I was out on the hunt for birthday presents and ended up getting myself a few bits too, I know, I know but old habits die hard and I justify it because they were all in the sales that are on at the moment.

                                                        mad bird brooch.
 

                                                     New spring make-up.

                                     A very bizarre t-shirt and some new sneakers.
I also ended up getting two new blouses because I loved the print on them both. Playing cards

and dinosaurs :-)

You'll be pleased to hear despite all this shopping for myself I did manage to find the birthday presents I was after too *cough*

Thursday night we went to see The War of The Worlds at Cineworld. It was a recording of the live show from last year. I can see how it would have been amazing to be there with the orchestra and cast below a big screen that was showing images from the story but somehow it didn't work in the cinema. Especially as the cameraman felt the need to keep swooping about to such a degree I actually started to feel motion sickness!
All the performers were fantastic, though as someone who has very fond memories of the original the fact it was bulked out by about an hour of extra music sadly detracted rather than added to the show.

Friday I had the afternoon off work to meet my best friends Soo and Jenny to finally exchange christmas and birthday gifts! We had a wonderful afternoon and the time flew by. We popped Jenny on the bus home and decamped to Wetherspoons for a bottle of wine and lots of gossip until Himself arrived in town, he and I were due to go and see Nephew Number One's band in their first headlining gig.
He arrived so we had another bottle of wine (would have been rude not too) and finally headed to the other side of the Oxford at about 9pm.
All in all a great week.

Sun, Shoes and Curls.

Oh what a glorious sight to finally see the sun in the sky and feel a bit of warmth on your skin after months and months of snow, ice and bitter cold winds. I'm wondering whether I dare to get out in the garden tomorrow and begin the long task ahead of me of getting it into shape after the disaster that was last summer. Hmm

I bought myself this wire blackbird last week and constantly think it is a real one when I see it out of the corner of my eye! I think he will finally end up with the pots on my patio but at the moment he's enjoying the spring flowers as much as I.
I must confess to lots of quirky ornaments around my garden, they aren't for everyone but I'm not one for regimented formal flowerbeds. I like being surprised by something you wouldn't expect to see in the garden!

                         Gardening Law states No garden is complete without a gnome.



Forgive me father for I have sinned.

I had an email from Office Shoes, it said SALE in huge letters. I should have deleted it there and then but weak willed woman that I am I opened it........There was a link for the 'Women's Shoe Sale', I shouldn't have opened it but weak willed woman that I am I did.

You all know where this is going don't you?

First thing that caught my eye was a pair of purple Converse for not at all a bad price. Now I need more Converse like a hole in the head but they were a delicious shade of purple, I love purple it's a colour I wear often and I always get complimented when I do.

So yes, to cut a long story short I bought another pair of Converse. Behold in all their glory my new shoes.

 
 Ha, fooled you! they're not purple are they? This is because as I was doing the 'can I justify this purchase?' pros and cons argument in my head I idly clicked the

'more colourways available button'. 

Seriously, how is a girl with a nautical obsession meant to resist navy blue and red Converse WITH ANCHORS ON THEM???

Not at all is the answer to that question of course.

On the plus side they were also in the sale but unfortunately they were a great deal more expensive than the purple ones.
Do I care?
Do I have one ounce of guilt for spending the money?
No, nah. nada, they are mine now and that is that *happy sigh*

In the sort of ying to balance the happy shoe yang I had my hair cut and coloured today. I only wanted a trim, my hairdresser (see sister in law) disagreed, my current length didn't suit me and my face shape apparently. Now this is where your hairdresser being your relative goes badly wrong I think.
If I were in a salon she would have to do what I wanted whether she thought it suited me or not, I could also complain if I wasn't happy without fear of causing family rifts of world war three proportions.

Anyway much disgruntled she suggested cutting more layers into my hair if I *must* keep it longer and set to with the scissors.....

All I can say is I currently have the hairstyle of a 1970's footballer, Kevin Keegan to be precise.

Imagine if you can bear to, the above style but in blonde much finer and more frizzy hair. Yup it's pretty bad isn't it?
The problem I have now is that because my hair has been much abused over the years, it has been left dry, fine and fragile.
It also grows very, very slowly, currently it's at the rate of one inch per millennium.
All of which means gritting my teeth and putting up with it until it grows out a bit could be a very long time.

The other option, and the one I suspect is my sister in laws nefarious plan behind the said footballers haircut, is to have it cut much shorter.

In some ways this is not a bad thing in that a pixie cut suits me and I've loved it whenever I have had one before. It's just I didn't want one again right now and it takes me so damn long to grow it out.

Bah.