life

here is henley viewed from the middle of the Henley Royal Regatta race course.
despite visiting henley hundreds of times, we’ve never been on a river cruise. today we did and it was a really nice relaxing way to spend an hour and a quarter !

for the 24 hour thing i thought i’d take a picture of me putting the bins out. i got a bit sidetracked photo-ing a hedgehog (a sweet little chap).
i sat down in front of the bins and took this photo. unfortunately i missed my face and you can’t see the bins. but other than that i’m pleased with it.

hoorah. they swallowfield show website has been updated and the schedule has been published.
if you live in berkshire and its environs then you should consider entering one of the many craft exhibits (or at the least going along). The Sunday clashes with the Reading Festival, but you’ll be free on Monday right ?
i was fortunate enough to win the photography prize last year.
their website is just superb. you really catch the carnival atmosphere (especially if you have your sound switched on).

it can’t be great being homeless. but you can choose a nice view to wake up to in the morning.

you suddenly feel a bit old when you become a parent. you suddenly realise you ARE old when you start going to school parents events. where did our lives go ? good job the blog has an archive so i can keep track and answer that question at least for the last year.
meanwhile jane and i went to an auction at esther’s school this evening. there were many delights and many expensive items were bought (but not by us).
and how strange to look around and see other parents who we don’t know, yet our children may know each other really well.
it’s all just too bizarre. luckily there was beer, chocolate and a flappy number to help the auction go smoothly:

the weather is like my head at the moment. full of a thousand different bits of a thousand different things all dropping down at the same time. oh well.

cheese and potato pie (mashed potato with cheese on), ketchup, top of the pops and subtitles. lovely.

yeah. i get my pillow back tonight.

is it a coincidence that this appeared here today ?
so what did i learn ? not sure.
certainly that i need chocolate more than my pillow (the longest i managed giving up chocolate was 5 days).
i also learnt that if i’m tired enough i’ll sleep with a degree of discomfort.

it’s Good Friday today so we spent the day out in the funkypancake estate.
jane did all the work as i am totally rubbish at anything gardeny. here are some grass clippings in a bag.

more history from my old computer – ancient webcam pictures from when i had hair and didn’t wear glasses all the time.

i don’t often get angry about things or people, but this woman does cause me much mirth / annoyment (depending on my mood).
i have a standard response to her rudeness which generally works well in most situations of potential confrontation. i say “thank you, have a really lovely evening”. today she went too far and i didn’t say anything.
i approached, paid her my 40 pence, went to extract my paper from her claw-like grip and she looked me in the eyes and said “never do that again”.
“pardon ?” i said
“NEVER give me copper coins. i don’t want them. never do that again”
my mistake had been to include two 2 pence coins and one 1 pence coin in my money.
so, i shall save up all my 1 pence pieces and make a special purchase of my 40 pence paper next week. i may even be ready with my camera:

and here she is close up:

she is the complete opposite of this man

jane’s parents have been cleaning out their loft and have obviously reached the corner marked ’70s cutting edge mass market technology’.
here is jane’s old portable tape player. it’s massive by today’s standards:

they also brought round jane’s old soda stream with some original gas canistors. I never had one as a child and am quite frightened of the thing. there’s too much opportunity for things to explode in my opinion.
here’s the logo to keep you going for now. what a logo:

i’ll tell you more if we survive the recommisioning tests

you can tell easter is on the way. i spotted my first easter card growing wild in a flower bed this morning.

the back lash against no smoking restaurants has begun.

cheryl asked if she could see my charles and diana glass tankard full of drink.
here is it full of old speckled hen. hmm. old speckled hen. another sponsorship opportunity ?

i spotted this newspaper sign yesterday which related to the government’s budget statement. you can see what kind of coutry modern britain is by the which things the papers think will concern us most. there were few mentions of the new VAT free status for church repairs …