That was the week. . .

. . .that was! Where did it go, I ask myself. Obviously a sign of old age, specially as I now can't remember anything we did!

Dom came to stay on Saturday so that his Mum could go to a crop in Gosport. Dom spent as much time as he could with Ben from next door and I ended up with two small boys hiding behind cushions on my sofa watching Dr Who. Shoved Dom in the bath and left him to play for a few minutes. He called me into the bathroom and this is what I found:-

Bless his heart - he said he wants to be a grandpa. I think it may be because Grandpa has a train set to play with - Oh, sorry, model railway!!

Sunday we went on a family picnic, organised by Amanda's MIL. Linda is a dynamic force, and England game notwithstanding, all the blokes turned up!! The kids had a whale of a time. At one stage they disappeared into the woods to build a den (with adult help) and were gone for an hour and a half. We shall be going back to Manor Farm in August for my Aunt Rosemary's 80th birthday picnic. I didn't take many photos. This one shows the three kids across the other side of the clearing from where we were picnicking, and gives some idea of the space they have to run riot in!!

Monday night was our monthly crop at Waterlooville. It's nice to sit and chat and scrap, and for once I actually got something done. I finished a CJ entry for the Feline Groovy CJ I am doing. Posting day was yesterday, so I was in plenty of time. WHY is it still not mailed, you ask? Well, that would be the agoraphobia kicking in again. I can go out WITH other people. I was FINE on Sunday in the wide open spaces of the Country park, but ask me to walk to the post-box on my own and I turn to jelly - and those of you who have met me will know that that is a LOT of jelly. Tomorrow I have a commitment to go out, so I will manage that. It's only promises to myself I can't keep.

Another CJ arrived on Tuesday morning and I just did the entry straight off. This is SO not me - Mrs Procrastination-with-bells-on. It is due out tomorrow, so that one will be back on track. I'm pleased with it, but I did know EXACTLY what I was going to do before it turned up, and that doesn't happen often!

There's been yet another victim in the scrapshop massacre that seems to be taking place at the moment. Long-established "bricks and mortar" shops are dropping by the wayside as the pressure from the small online-only operators, and the increasing use of UK distributors by the big American maufacturers, squeezes them from both directions. Cotswold Keepsakes will be greatly missed by many of us.

Now, you see, I've wasted another half-hour of what was SUPPOSED to be crafting time. Mrs Procrastination strikes again. . .

Waiting for. . .

Well, I'm not sure what. I feel as though I'm living in a Beckett play, specifically "Waiting for Godot" where the main theme is that nothing happens!

It hasn't been an eventful week, but a few interesting things have happened. I posted two reviews on the "Information Britain" website. Interesting that the positive review of the restaurant has appeared, and the negative one of the B&B has not. nor have I had any response to my e-mail asking why it has been binned.

I'm also waiting for a response to an e-mail from an Altered Art forum. I joined ages ago, but I can't access it now, even with the new password they sent me, and Beth tells me my name is no longer on the membership list. The site won't let me re-join, even with another username, so I am in limbo, and I have no idea why! I think I have now e-mailed them four or five times, but no response. Very odd! I know several people who are members of this forum, but I don't really want to involve them.

My crafting is taking a bit of a back seat at the moment. Just don't have the inspiration. Probably because the stash is in such a muddle. So this week I shall concentrate on having a mega sort-out and maybe NEXT week the creative bug will bite again. Phoebe came to stay overnight and made some ATCs*. I wanted to scan them, but she wanted to take them home with her, so here are some of mine instead!

Dom is very into drawing and painting at present. Some time ago he drew me this FABBY picture. I can't remember whether it is a crocodile or a dinosaur, but I think it looks very aboriginal and I intend to frame it for my craft room

Apparently it's a
magic fish!

by
Dominic

* ATC stands for Artist's Trading Card. Originally designed to showcase an artist's work, these little (3.5 x 2.5ins) cards have become a craze in the papercraft world. They cannot be sold, but only traded one for one with other makers. It's fun to collect little bits or original artwork from all over the world. Anyone want to trade??

Dire Warning!!

Went away for the weekend to celebrate the joint Gemini birthdays of myself and my mate, Lynn. We decided to go to Rye in East Sussex as we are both Mapp and Lucia aficionados and fancied swanning around town with our shopping baskets. Very busy place, Rye, and we had a bit of trouble finding anywhere to stay. In the end Lynn found Simmons of the Mint, which was our big mistake. It LOOKED fine, Four stars/diamonds from the RAC and the tourist board.

There was no indication online that the owners do not live on site. In fact there is no-one on site, and the emergency number we were given went straight to voicemail. We needed to telephone them, because, for some reason, they were running their central heating! We didin't notice this until we came back from dinner at about 10.30pm and the heat inside hit us in the face. Normally one would just turn the radiators off. Normally one would have the knobs on the radiators to allow them to be turned off. Not so!! It got to the pitch that we were going to pack up and find somewhere else to stay when they finally switched off at 11.30pm. On again at 6am though!

It cooled down a bit, but we did have our window wide open. Mistake number two. The MInt. Noisy, rowdy chav pub with yelling, screaming and breaking glass until about 1.30 am. That was Friday night. Saturday late afternoon there was a full-scale brawl in the road with one bloke having his face pushed through the window of a shop just up the road. When we went out to dinner there was blood all over the place. When we came back it was broken glass in our doorway and lads having piggy-back fights outside the pub. Bear in mind the road is only about 10 feet wide and all this sounds as though it is in bed with us!!

Bed and breakfast we paid for. The bedlinen didn't fit, and I had to re-make our bed coz when I turned back the covers it looked as though someone had already slept in it. (It did smell OK!). The tea-tray wasn't good enough - no sugar, not enough milk. No water glasses provided. no towel=rail for damp towels. TV remote didn't work. Bear in mind we are talking FOUR STAR here!! No ensuite, and the shower-room door had recently been replaced, but not painted!

Breakfast was supposed to be served at 9am. We arrived downstairs at 9.05, just as a rather grubby and dishevelled waitress arrived at work. The tables had not been laid. Fresh fruit; tho' the pineapple was on the way out. One small packet of corn-flakes (which was left open on the side from Saturday breakfast to Sunday). One empty jar of marmalade, which was grudgingly refilled, one nearly empty and rather sticky bottle of ketchup. One jug of orange juice. Cutlery in a tray on the floor. Cooked breakfast was as advertised, but arrived at 9.45 Toast flat on a plate and stone cold.

We asked the girl who cooked the breakfast what we could do about the heating. She told us the owners were away for the weekend, and she didn't know what to do. In the end her partner just unplugged the pump, which stopped the radiators getting hot. We know that the owners were made aware of our problems. but they just didn't give a toss. Happy to take our money though. So, be warned Simmons of the Mint, Rye, East Sussex. Don't go there!!

If you DO go to Rye you should definitely go to The Fish Cafe in Tower Street and to Hayden's Coffee Shop in the High Street. Hayden's does accommodation, too!!

Next year I may stay home!

Moving too fast. . .

The world is moving too fast for me at the moment. My favourite craft shop, Canny Craft, has closed. This has wide-reaching impact as Canny (Anne and James) were the sole sponsors of the PapaercraftsUK Forum, which was my intro to this whole online community thingy. PCUK has been my online home for a couple of years. Beth found it first, and joined, and then I tried, but it just wouldn't let us have two logins from the same IP address. For some months we shared the log-in as Panicmum and PanicGran, with Beth posting in blue and me posting in red.

An update of the forum allowed me my own identity and we have been part of the furniture there ever since. Last January Canny organised a Retreat and many of us travelled to Cwmbran for a weekend of crafting and chatting and laughter and fun. Losing Anne and James is like losing part of the fabric of our lives. Luckily the Forum is to continue, and those of us who need a daily, if not hourly, fix will still be able to get it.

I think it is a particular function of online communties where women are in the majority that the overt purpose of the Forum - a shared interest in papercrafts - has almost become secondary to the support network we form for each other. PCUK seems to function as an extended family for many of its members, and we would all be devastated at its demise. Hooray, then, for "Techy James" who has rescued it from oblivion.

The Glums?

I was taken to see a local drama group presentation of "Les Miserables" last night. I have seen the London production twice, so I was not expecting a great deal, but I have to say these kids were PHENOMENAL!! There were certainly some excellent voices amongst them and the maturity of performance made it very difficult to believe that they were all under 18. Apart from young Gavroche, that is! Phoebe's cousin Declan in his first speaking/singing role. He is so tiny; he is only weeks younger than Phoebe, but just about comes up to her shoulder. This will be such an asset to him as a child performer as he will always be able to "act down".

Spent a day with Phoebe and Dom on Friday. We ventured down to Gunwharf, where the Volvo Ocean Race was preparing to leave. It was less manic that I had anticipated - we even got a seat in a restaurant without waiting! Took the kids to see Ice Age 2 - coz Dom and I both LOVE Manfred the Mammoth. Lovely to see him with a girl-friend, even if she is ditsy as hell and thinks she's a possum. My kinda mammoth!