you're very lucky you found it Augusta
changing locks can be a expensive thing

i know what you mean about the weather
its blowing a gale again and it hasn't stopped raining all day
its just so miserable, my flower beds are full of standing water, and i now have a pond
in the middle of my lawn, which is not good, due to i have never wanted one

i,m sitting here wishing for a lovely sunny spring

Sending wishes Nyannie

Chocolate cookies sound good, keep some for yourself
a good cookie can be a very up lifting thing, or do they, just make your pants tighter
but i,m sure a few won,t hurt

The new Wembley is a lovely ground, i think you can do a tour of it,
but i agree tickets for match days are expensive and hard to get, most taken by season ticket holders

but i think most sporting events are expensive, we have just payed £70 a ticket
for the rugby so for a family of 4 its not a cheap day out, but great fun

i was laughing so hard about this draw, M.City v Chelsea Lena
i missed Liverpools because it came out next
lets just say when we realized we had drawn Arsenal all laughing stopped
and a few shits were said instead

Great to see you Georgy Sorry to hear you've been unwell and hope you're feeling better.

I love your reaction to the Arsenal draw And we play them on Saturday as well in the league

At least with sport I can just watch it on the TV and try to block out the sound of rain hammering on the windows.... Seriously, we'll be needing boats soon !! The fields around here are like lakes, but at least it's not as bad as the Somerset levels, or that rail track at Dawlish!

Daughter in London battling the tube strike as well as the weather today, rather her than me

Keep warm and safe everyone xx

PS Boy, do I miss those 'sleepy' smilies we used to have......xx

Goodnight all

Sleep tight (best I could do for a sleepy smiley)

Lindy xx

Good to see you georgy - we were getting worried. Hope you are now fighting fit.

Well, ark building has begun again in earnest - have willing volunteers - the children next door. Honestly! My snowdrops have been flattened by all this water. Still, better than in NY. Cousin has sent photos - so much snow that people aren't going out!

Off to London today to see friends for lunch. Hope the buses are running OK. Hope lunch will lift my gloom.

Hope everyone has a good day.

£70 aren't bad for rugby tickets. I just paid £100 for two tickets to Blythe Spirit - and the tickets are in a balcony!!!!!

Ooooh nyannie London in the rain and with a tube strike Hope you get a bus or taxi okay....I think it could be quite difficult today. Will be interested to know how you get on

Have a good day all

PS Just got back from a part day's work - feet up and cup of tea are called for I think!

afternoon.....

we are going to have to take ark building seriously, if this weather carries on....The dogs and I keep looking hopefully out of the window...but its still raining..and I have no intention of going for a walk in this kind of weather.!!

maybe I will look into a tour of Wembley, that sounds fun...I might wait for the weather to improve slightly though.

Did anyone else get caught in the tube strike? I was ok, but my OH got caught up and got home ridiculously late. what is it all about? Cos if it is about making sure stations are always manned, I do quite like that idea, other capital cities do have unmanned stations which can be a bit un nerving late at night.

Hello

It's getting to the point of being unusual if it's not raining, isn't it? Sooooo miserable, I'm fed up with it like everyone else. Keep telling myself it could be much worse, I could live in Devon or Somerset!

Think I'll take a leaf out of nyannie's book, get myself another cup of tea and go to bed for a bit to warm up. It feels lazy, but how else to manage this awful weather?!?.....

See you later

Well it did bring us down with a bit of a Thud
might be a lesson to be learnt here
perhaps about laughing at ........ someone else's misfortune

going to be a tough match against Arsenal on sat to but i,m always hopeful

These poor people , such bad flooding, and i hear more is on its way
big storm supposed to hit at the weekend, when will it end

and as for the tube strike really not best pleased, hope your daughter wasn't delayed
to much these last few days

Now thats brave nyannie, hope you managed to move around London ok
and have a good day

yes i did see all the snow in New York, only because i was reading about
Philip Seymour Hoffman, now that is sad, a great loss to the Theatre as well as film, and
three young children under 10 , Drugs and he was clean for so many years .

Poor Husband,
i don,t think its about manned stations as such, its just the closing down of the tube ticket offices,
which only 3% of travellers use, because most people have oyster cards these days, not that
i know all the facts, but there must be a better way of solving the problems, without a strike.

sometimes you can pick up cheap England match tickets, if you want the full experience of
Wembley, and not just the tour, really depends on who England are playing

your poor dogs, not much fun going out for walks, you perhaps need to get them on a treadmill,
have you a running machine in the house

Now that sounds good,
think i shall follow suit
but perhaps a bubble bath first, and a whiskey and hot milk (medicinal of course )

This is exactly what I did when I got back from London last night - minus the milk!!!

London was chaos! Waited over 40 minutes in the pouring rain to get on a bus to get me to the station so decided to take a taxi - feet hurting and I was so wet!!! Traffic was chaotic - drivers in junction boxes, lights not working - I do not want to tell you what that taxi cost!!!! Was so glad to get home - my shoes and scarf are STILL drying out.

Felt much better after seeing long-term friends.

See you later. I am going to get o/h off to work and go back to bed. Still very tired.

Good morning, hope you're all feeling better and are tucked up safe and warm.

What an horrendous day yesterday was, we actually had a puddle outside our front door where the rain had given up draining away. Most unusual as we're on chalk!

Had dental appt yesterday afternoon, son very kindly dropped me off and picked me up afterwards. Just as well, as he parked right outside and I was soaked just running from the car up to the front door.

Had a nice chat with dentist (albeit rather one sided) while he worked, about tv. We decided our dream job was as extras on Death in Paradise, lolling around in the Caribbean for six months.

Excuse me while I faint.....THE SUN'S COME OUT!!!! Where's a lying down smilie when you need one?

I really could do with a bit of sunshine to cheer me up today. I am starting to feel so old and unemployable at times. Its a strange world at times, Employers seem to need so much to prove you are worth employing. so many hoops to jump through and current words and current thinking to throw around.

But they don't seem to have any complaints if I just turn up for a few days supply !!!! One of my biggest issues is that I find it so hard to be enthusiastic and talk myself up at the best of times, so its really hard in interview situations to do this about things that ...people think are important, but I know are likely to be just a flash in the pan and replaced in 6 months by the next fad.....

maybe this is a coded message that I really need to get on with making jewellery!!!


I love the idea of setting the dogs up on a treadmill, we have also wondered about creating a ball throwing machine for the dalmation, to keep him entertained in the garden....


So who else is going to be watching the Olympics???

augusta: you are not old and unemployable!!,

Far from it.....all you seem to be saying is that you have a mind of your own! And that you want to use it Yes, we all have to use the jargon relevant to our profession at any given time.....but we all know that the basis of a job like teaching never changes, eg assess student need, provide effective learning environments and all that jazz!

Keep your belief in yourself, use the current lingo if you want a permanent job, but always be aware that the main thing is your own professionalism

And yes, we're all waiting to see that jewellery!

Keep the faith

Lindy xx

thank you lindy....

So who else has been watching the rainbow Olympics? I loved the google logo today, very bright and cheerful, and as for the outfits worn by the German team........


I loved them...


and the point being made is very interesting......I wonder if the Russian population though are aware of what an obvious point is being made about 'gay' rights, or if all this protest is going over their heads?

Haven't seen the Sochia Olympics yet, apart from a few minutes with Clare Balding earlier. It was so good to see her back on screen, I have to say. I loved the bit i saw of the opening ceremony too, very impressive. I also saw the google logo today but being a bit thick, didn't realise the significance!

Am hoping to catch some of the sport over the weekend....although my main concern remains the Liverpool - Arsenal match.....sorry to be so predictable!

My guess is that a lot of the Russian population won't be aware of the gay rights campaign.....it will be kept in the background if the authorities have anything to do with it.

Have a good weekend all. Stay dry....the forecast is bad....again!!

Night all

Lindy xx

it sounds as if the Liverpool game is going well....


just back from shopping in town....There is an amazing house drive past. It used to just have the red phone boxes and pillar boxes decorating the front garden....which I spose makes a change from garden gnomes...

Then it got a red routemaster bus...parked to the side of it..With a thunderbird 2 side fence that can be lowered to form a bridge for it to get out on the road.


And now...I notice it has a new bus stop sign...complete with number 38...Its starting to make me laugh...Whatever next!!!!!!


It just seems so incongruous in the middle of the countryside, to see a red London bus..!!!

Hi all

I didn't see the Liverpool match live but did see it on MOTD tonight and it was breathtaking!!!

That house does sound pretty unique, Augusta!

And so to the floods.....again! River levels here are as high as they were in 2007, ie worse than last month Thank goodness we live on a hill, but even so, the whole town comes to a near standstill when they have to close major roads. As the local blog says "it's like waiting for Santa, but not so jolly"

Have just taped up the letterbox and door knocker as they bang in the wind and keep us awake.....Now off to bed and am hoping that all those forecasts of flooding for tomorrow, turn out to be wrong!

Night all

Sleep tight and stay dry

Lindy xx

Morning all

More flooding and sandbagging here. Territorials sandbagging our closest town - so glad we live on a hill - of sorts.

I am going back to bed in a minute. Had lunch with some friends and then went to a quiz night which didn't finish until almost midnight - had fun though.

Have managed to get some tickets for King Lear in May.

Had more bad news about another friend's mother who was very good to me in my early days in the UK.

Oops - the sun has come out. Going to go out for a minute's sun before bed. . .

It really does! I remember seeing a flagpole in the middle of a
farm!

where are you seeing King lear? that sounds a good play to go and see..........I must get my head around booking tickets months in advance.. I wish I could book for things a couple of days in advance.


I think we are all waiting for the weather to change and stop raining and blowing ........its getting more saturated here and the rivers are almost at bursting point, but I don't think its nearly as bad as somerset etc...

Somehow I cant see us needing a hosepipe ban this year.....