Catching up with events

Not only did we have a clock change and an extra hours sleep, but we had fused lights as well. I rose at my usual time, except it was an hour earlier (if you know what I mean) so I didn’t get an extra hours sleep. I felt quite excited knowing that the time available gave me some extra reading time. Wrong. What I hadn’t counted on was the lights fusing just after I got up. Our fuse box is kept in the garage, and the garage faces the road and other houses, so to go out in my nightwear wasn’t on the cards at all. I would wait. I had to wait unless I wanted to go out armed with stepladders and a torch (remember it was dark) in my nightwear, to fiddle with locks and garage doors and then to find I didn’t know which switch to press when I opened the fuse box. If I got that far! It’s times like this when I wish I was taller. Most of my adult life I’ve been 5’2” but I swear I’ve shrunk in latter years.

Halloween is over and I didn’t hear one shriek from the local community. I’m sure there were parties on the go and lots of trick or treaters knocking on doors but not in my road. I heard fireworks but now that we have a curfew of 11 o’clock (23.00 hours) there was much less noise. The police were active on Facebook and Twitter (I only saw the latter) asking people to be a bit more considerate and to remember that older people felt threatened by youngsters ringing bells and knocking doors at night. Unfortunately there was an incident in a road a couple of miles away when louts damaged parked cars, smashing windows etc, and even turning one vehicle over onto its roof. I have yet to learn what pleasure they get from being so destructive. If only punishment could be along the lines of an eye for an eye!

Click the pic to read all about him

Closely following Halloween is our Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night which came and went with fewer wild parties. I decided, since Bonfire Night fell on a Monday (Monday Mirth day) I wouldn’t bore you with my dislike of that particular event/celebration. Suffice to say that fire maims or kills and I had my share of injury by fire 50 years ago. One never forgets that sort of thing, one never grows to like it either. For a change there was nothing on the news about people being cruel to animals by tying fireworks to their tails; I hope that the lack of information means that mankind has become more considerate.  Of course I may be jumping the gun since people prolong their celebrations by several days. Who knows what the weekend will bring.

I wish!

Our shopping day is Monday. We could, of course, go any day but on Mondays the supermarket seems a little quieter. Did I say quieter? That’s a facetious joke if ever I heard one. Is it just mine or do all supermarkets have their share of screaming toddlers? One in particular is a Monday regular. You could bet money on him opening his little mouth and screeching his little head off every flippin' week while his mother carries on shopping in apparent ignorance of what is going on. Wherever we go he isn't far behind, or in front.

I remember when my infant child thought it was fun to scream in a place where the acoustics emphasised each screeching note and if I couldn’t stand it I felt other shoppers would have the same abhorrence. Instead of chastising or cajoling I simply waltzed him out of the store with the threat that only if he stopped his racket would I reconsider purchasing some goodie or other. It worked for me so it could possibly work for other mothers with similar problems. Perhaps they don’t hear their offspring’s not-so-dulcet tones ... perhaps they’re stone deaf.

And what about the car parks? It’s nothing to see children running between cars, unwatched and unsupervised while their parents load shopping into car boots. 5 mph is the speed limit but these days motorists seem to be blind to traffic signs, cautionary or otherwise,  as do pedestrians who saunter across the park totally oblivious to traffic.  I hold my breath........ and pray!

On a lighter note. Are you on speaking terms with the local birds? For several weeks I have been chatting to a Robin... don’t laugh. Whenever I top up the bird feeders the robin flies close to where I’m working, and waits. It’s as if he wants to be first in the queue. I talk to him, saying daft things like don’t be impatient or I’ll make sure you get first pick. He never answers back. So, the other day I went out to top up the feeder and Robin followed. He parked on a nearby branch and watched and listened to my inane chat. I can never guarantee that every seed makes it into the feeder, some always spills to the ground. I don’t worry because the pigeons will soon scoff anything that doesn’t make it into the Perspex tube. This time, though, my aim was perfect.... except for one seed which shot to the ground, landing right by my foot. Robin dived, collected the seed, and returned to his branch. How’s that for bravery? Clever and fearless is the Robin.

Now to share with you my latest spam email

Dear Friend,

I assume that this message will reach you in good health. However, it's just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction. I assured you honesty and reliability to champion this business opportunity.

I'm Mrs. Rose Patrick, from Burkina Faso West Africa, I am the foreign operation manager of the African Development Bnak Burkina Faso (ADB). I have the opportunity of transferring the left over funds what of ($25.2Million Dollars) from the account of our bank's customer who died along with his entire family in a plane crash.

I am contacting you for this business while the money will be shared between us in the ratio of 50/50, on the acceptance of my proposal, Further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your response.
Amount to claim US$25.200.000.00
Now my questions are:-
1. Can you handle this project?
2. Can I give you this trust?
Please indicate your willingness by providing the below information for easy communication.
Your name :....................
Your address:..................
Your country:..................
Your occupation:...............
Your age:......................
Telephone number:..............

Hoping to hear from you as soon as possible.
Regards
Rose

__________

Yeah, right, and while I’m about it I’ll include my credit card number.

A shopping day to remember

Supermarket shopping is best done early in the day while it’s peaceful. It’s a time when check-out girls are at their quietest, preparing themselves for a hectic day while their first customers read labels and decipher instructions written in several languages. It’s browsing time, without the rush.

So you can imagine how I felt when a burly black woman with a cell phone glued to her ear moved to stand beside me. Dressed in black, with wild woolly black hair that seemed to lift off when she moved, she was a big woman with a big voice. Most people hold private phone conversations in hushed voices but not this one. Oh dear me no. She bellowed hers to all who couldn’t escape from listening. I’d dearly love to know who was at the other end.

Anyway, the gist of the conversation showed her disgust with someone who seemingly had ill treated another mysterious person, thereby raising the wrath of my fellow shopper. I use the word ‘fellow’ loosely even though she was built like an Amazon warrior and probably had muscles to match.

I moved away but I could still hear her booming diatribe several aisles away.

We met up again by the fish counter and that was where fish wife came to mind. By now she was describing how she would get her own back on the person in question, who seemed to have a name beginning with F, as did all the things she was going to do to the perpetrator of this terrible crime. There were other expletives but the F word seemed to be favourite. I guess I should have been grateful for small mercies.

So it went on, and on, until eventually we arrived at the check-out. I must have been in the store a good three-quarters of an hour … it’s what I call a deafening experience.

She joined a short line next to mine. I had chosen a smiling check-out girl to assist me while the Queen Boudicca look-alike opted for a male. These people obviously knew her because when she told the guy to ‘shut his gob’ while he served her he merely smiled. Not once did she move the cell from her ear. Whoever was at the other end must have been privy to all the goings-on at the check-out.

She actually got served before me… I guess me and my gal were too interested in what might happen next. An elderly woman behind me was overwrought by the bad language. Honestly, she was so distressed her face nearly matched her salmon coloured coat. She vowed never to go to the supermarket again on a Wednesday. Me neither, I thought. After Boudicca waltzed away from her section, still yapping loudly on the phone, I asked my cashier if she’d seen her before. The answer was yes, but it was the first time the cell phone had been in use. Indeed, she said the staff looked forward to their little bit of entertainment on Wednesdays.

So remember when you next walk into a quiet supermarket … all may not be as it seems.