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I am only joking. We have had a lovely time away but it is time today to return to our  rented shoe box in the middle of the road in foggy London town. I have enjoyed being in big rooms where I could dance without hitting the walls every time I swung a cat. That has been lovely. At home there is very little chance of dancing except in the traditional Irish style with hands firmly by one’s side and using steps that  resemble the pogo.

I have also enjoyed spending time with the nieces, nephews and in-laws. There are so many of them! Check out my new year’s walk nearly a year ago (1/1/11) with a small handful of them here. I only have one living auntie, parents, one sister and 5 cousins on my side of the family. Mr P. has 10 living aunts and uncles and about 40 cousins, and a grandmother who has  over 50 grandchildren. You go to events at his neck of the woods and he does not introduce me to people, because there are so many of them, he does not remember so any of their names!  Over the years I have got to more than nodding acquaintance with very many of them, and what a varied cast they are, from car-line workers, forklift truckers,  lorry driver owners, pub landlords, pharmacists, teachers, nurses to surgeons. Yesterday Mr. P. was still too ill, so I went to watch masses of his family members go go-carting in a big place on the North Wales border. I wish I had had a go, no one was sure if the fact I did not drive might have hindered me, and also they all paid £35 each for the experience, which seemed grand as they all got to race round about 5 times and wear jumpsuits that made them all look like formula one drivers! cool.

So I am on my way home by now, let’s hope the train is not too packed and the mice have not had too much of a party since I left.

SONG OF THE DAY – Ace – how long has this been going on?

1975 eek. My first proper rock concert at the Roundhouse Camden. Went on the bus with a new date and some lads , my date  promptly ditched me. My mum made me clean the whole house before she would let me go. I had to phone my dad to come and rescue me from Radlett railway station after the journey home with the lads who did not speak to me and just left me there…thought he would be really cross and shout…but he didn’t..I wish I had washed my hair and  worn that hideous brown coat, then I am sure things would have been very different.ha ha ha . Funny that all these years later I remember the dilemma of wondering if I should wash my hair, or whether it would last another day……..Patrick Dennis, you should be ashamed of yourself!

 

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I dropped Mr P. off there this morning for his birthday surprise which is a spoon carving workshop with Barn the Spoon in the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park! An old cemetery – 35 acres…breath taking…if you dig old cemeterys, which I do!

I  tramped round it for about an hour, and in that time saw a mere handful of people walking their dogs. I took loads of photos. Well worth a visit. Another of those little havens in London. I shall have to see how the spoon carving workshop went down with Mr P.  I did manage to  keep it a surprise for the last 2 weeks, right  until we got there.  The people already there even greeted him with ‘Hi and welcome to the dance workshop!” Surprises can be a bit of a risk. Mr P. told me this week his worst idea of a surprise would have been a pampering day or a paint balling session….phew…lucky escape there then. I shall let you know how he got on tomorrow.

SONG OF THE DAY – Wooden it be Nice -The Beech Boys

As it is all about wood today, this was the first song that came into my head (sorry).

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After years of hating cauliflower with a PASSION, H. and A. have changed my  culinary life. I was treated to the most amazing dinner at their house  last night, which included this  wonderful  cauliflower salad, thanks to a recipe by Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall, the recipe is  clicking here! The cauliflower is obviously having a bit of a renaissance.

The recipe is basically, crisp raw cauliflower with lemons, oil, toasted pumpkin seeds , sesame seeds and sumac …..something I had never heard of before. It is a crushed powdered berry that has a lemony taste, very popular in Turkish cooking. You may recognise the plant. So after years of thinking the cauliflower was the devil’s work…. I am converted. bring on the  raw cauliflowers!

SONG OF THE DAY – Mama Matrix -Melancholy Flower

ha ha ha…I like this band.

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So there it was a lovely new plectrum given to me free from Hobgoblin off Oxford Street, in big London, no chance it would get ruined as I don’t use a plectrum, until that is, I had my first guitar lesson. Recommended to learn to play with a plectrum so I used my special wedding memorial plectrum and in no time what so ever, the future King anf Queen were no more. The smiles wiped off their faces, as well as their noses, eyes teeth , hair….Nothing left but a hint of Union Jack and a bit of residue ink. Seems an awful shame really. But then they were beheaded for the sake of my development as a guitarist, so it is not all in vain.  I can never ever remember which practice is which practise, and when I am practising the guitar is it with a ‘c’. Definately whittering today. Must go and do something that is more useful for everyone.

SONG OF THE DAY -Wishbone Ash -Blowin Free

I didn’t hear until about 1976. In the old days this was one of the 10 songs you would get fined for playing in guitar shops, when you tried out a guitar…I remember Stairway to Heaven was also on the list, but cannot remember the others. I am dredging the bottom of the memory bin with this one, but the guitar is classic…so they say. It is dedicated to all the men in my life who are over a certain age (clears throat)