Dog for sale...

.....while we were sat watching the Olympics last night the little bugger crept upstairs, emptied out my handbag, ripped out it's lining, broke dad's glasses and ATE MY CHOCOLATES!!!!!!!

Pure Olympic Magic....

      ....We met Selina and Pete in London and caught the train in to the Olympic Park.  We hadn't any tickets, but planned to go to Victoria Park, just because we could, we won't be able to say that again in our life-time.  The train was surprisingly easy, people were very excited to be on their way to the park, it wasn't just us, you could feel excitement rising....
     As we came out of the station it was just getting dark, and 12-15 police vans and a block of Police cyclists came rushing past with sirens blazing.  Flags, banners, face paints, noise....it was amazing...to use Charlotte's favourite words.
       We walked up to the park, and loads of people were leaving, we were worried they were turned away as the park was too full. But it turns out they just didn't fancy the 11/2 to 2 hour queue just to get in the gates.  We decided to give it a go, even though we were warned we would only manage see about 30 mins of the ceremony.  Amazingly Selina and I couldn't get to the back of the queue it was growing faster than we could walk!
      We stood there for a about 10 mins deciding our next move, after all we were in the middle of a field and could see nothing, but the enormous roar coming from the Stadium told us that the queen had arrived-we just didn't know how...
     That queue suddenly started to move, and we were through security, in the park and in front of the big screen in less than 30mins.  The music, atmosphere, crowd...it was like nothing I've ever seen before..... 

 
             .....and my photos are rubbish, but I really don't care...I was there....and thats all that matters.
I have a good video of the fireworks,but I'm not even going to start on that one...I meant to ask John for help there but I forgot last time he was here.
     As the teams paraded into the stadium, the screaming and flag waving rose higher and higher as people from each country roared their support for their home teams.  And as team GB arrived...well...
and those fireworks......
     Everyone was singing, as we all...20,000....of us, walked back to the station, Paul McCartney saw to that.   The queue for the tube was growing faster than we could walk, again, but we caught one of the last trains.
    You remember the part of the ceremony where all the previous athletes were up taking part?  Well as the train door opened, an elderly stately gentleman stepped down.  His blazer pocket told me he had won an Olympic Medal in the 1960s.  That was pure magic to see him walking past, but try as I might I can't find out who he was and what he had won.
      We finally  "ran out of trains" at Northfield, as they stopped running just short of our stop at Hounslow, even though they had originally said they were going right through to Heathrow.  So we had to get a taxi for the last few miles to Jagjit's house and they were all in bed-it was only 3.45am after all.

Saturday morning was spent catching up with the bits of the ceremony we hadn't seen in the field and listening to the commentary that obviously wasn't there last night.  It was quieter and previous night's buzz was missing, making us all realise just how lucky we had been to actually be there.

      Back to the train station and back into London once again, we made our way to the Mall hoping to catch the end men's road race.  Once again we felt really lucky and caught the riders coming in.  We weren't in the ticketed area, but stood by the track, stunned by the speed of the riders, the silence of no traffic, the delight of the Columbian supporters when their team won silver, and the friendliness and delight of everyone around us.

    ..... Walking through Green Park towards the Mall in the beautiful afternoon sunshine, we weren't the only ones with the same idea.....

           ....Peering through the gates outside Buckingham Palace, I don't know why the Queen put up with them all standing on her beautiful gates....

        ....people and flags everywhere, you wouldn't believe how far up this guy was and how thin his branch was, but he definately had a good view....

                 ....waiting, waiting....for the last few bikes.  2kms to go we were told and they were past in seconds.  We were stood under the 1km flag.

        .....Selina's beautiful ear!.....but those bright purple boards were brilliant, as soon as a bike or support team appeared everyone leant forward and banged on them and there was a mad scuffle to see who was coming.....and if they were British....whoooo.

       ....."Are you supposed to be that side of the barriers?"....

      ....possibly not, but there was soon plenty of other idiots over there....and who is going to try and move those elated Columbian supporters?....

       ......Plenty of space for lots and lots of English eccentricity....

         A group pic of us all, taken by Pete who always manages to get better pictures than me...

A whole week of summer sun....

    ....and we have been making the most of it.   Spent loads of time in the garden.

        Poor Joe has been quite unwell for quite a few days.  First off he hurt his tummy, either jumping over something and scratching himself or getting a fur knot stuck  and pulling a lump of his fur clean out.  Either way he was sore and very bad-tempered about it, constantly licking, crying and whimpering like a baby and snapping and snarling at me when I tried to look at it.
        Then he started been sick, and was  very miserable all over again.  We think he had become allergic to his food.  But once he was back on his old food, a couple of doses of magic medicine and bread instead of dog biscuits he soon perked up.  But still refuses to eat his biscuits!  Maybe it was a sign that his allergies were building up when he started licking his tummy into knots again and he has been a bit slower than usual and rather drowsy.  But whatever upset him crept up very slowly and we didn't notice until he started been sick and sorry.
      Now recovered, he is full of fun and looking for trouble.  He has been pestering me for a walk now that the day has become cooler so we have just come back from the playing fields.  He crept up on a bird the other day and so nearly caught it.  He put a paw on it's back rather than grab it in his mouth and the poor thing got away.  He's better.
   

Selina and Pete have had a few days off so they came over....

...getting to grips with my I-Pad....

.....and trying on a couple of wedding dresses, she decided that this one would need just too much work to restyle it to fit her well.  Those sleeves would need to come off, and be replaced with straps and the bodice needed sorting out too.

Monday saw us take ride to Ironbridge and a river cruise.  It was such a hot day, we left Joe at home it was far to hot to take him anywhere.

      Tuesday, Darsh was up early to fetch Sara from the airport, she flew in for a couple of interviews, in London, but because of the Olympics she had to fly to Birmingham and take a train to London and back.  Fingers crossed she gets a London job.

    After we dropped Sara in town at Snow Hill station we went to see about suit hire for the men in our little wedding party.  They both looked so smart in tail jackets and cravats, but why on earth did Darsh feel he had to turn up in his gardening trousers and wearing the scruffiest trainers he uses to cut the lawn in????
     We had lunch at Jamie's, sat out on the balcony on the shady side....we could write a whole blog about food, using pictures of one or the other of us sat reading the menu and grinning.....

Normal service has been resumed.....

       ......both on our phone line and with my blog.  Tonight I am back on my borrowed laptop because I felt quite sorry for it, sat all on its own in a corner, unused and unloved since the I-Pad has taken over.  I do find this bigger screen far easier on my eyes though, and it is harder to drop this laptop!  The I-Pad has a mind of it's own a seems to simply shuffle off my knee when I am not looking.

So what have we been up to in last week.....

.....Darsh has been in London, so had plenty of at home time, made pesto...

         .....strawberry and raspberry jam and cakes...

         ....laughed at a soaking wet squirrel rolling round the garden trying to get nuts out of the feeder he had knocked out of the tree.   Where was the dog? in bed and staying there until it stopped raining.

    Got into the middle of the playing field when it started pouring with rain and got soaked going home- me and the water loving dog-TWICE. 

...made strawberry cocktails at home with Sara....

      ........shoppped in Sutton, ate curry in Caldmore, played on the I-Pad. [and muddled up the dates on my old post and can't quite get them back in the correct order]
    Went into Birmingham, saw the Olympic photos ,the new library, the flower covered mini and ate lunch in the "Bodega"...

                     .....Exhausted? 

Yes...exhausted!!!!

Untitled

Up early and took John

 

......experimenting still, I might just wear out my I.pad and my patience before I get this right. Sorry about the lousy picture Pete, where did you pop up from?

Saturday

What my dog looks like!

Or

What my dog should look if he had all of his teeth

John fixed me up with a new app and I am struggling to use it today

There's a warning of bad weather heading our way...

  ......nothing new there then.  Darsh has gone to London again, so we are on our own.  Up early this morning, jobs done and out to Brownhills.  The little town is awash with building work, contractors and their vehicles-it is good to see so much going on in an area that used to be so neglected.

     Came home with.....

.....which have now been converted into several pots of jam and puree for the freezer, of which I simply cannot get a photo  to download....

       We are running on a severely limited BT line, we have got internet-just-but no phone line.  It hasn't worked normally for a couple of weeks now.  Darsh is ready to explode, me - I like it, no PPI calls, no timeshare pestering.....so my photographs won't play the game....a small price to pay.  My I-Pad seems to be completely unaffected, but it did cut Charlotte off a couple of times the other night....that girl seems to be in a permanent state of over-excitement just lately!!!!

       So...walk in the park Joe?....no...why am I not surprised?

Big basket of ironing it is then...... and jam sandwiches for supper...

Quick, quick.....

     ......I saw the sun this morning, and it hung around for more-or-less the whole day....
 

           .....giving us blue skies....

.....long shadows....

               .....slowly drying rain-drops....

            ...... new christmas tree shoots that look as if they are made out of plastic....

                   .....and pale pink hydrangeas coming into flower.

We were in the park....

.....before 7am this morning, I admit  it was only a couple of minutes before 7, but it was nevertheless, before 7am, on a Sunday morning. 

AND

.....and we had already been into the city centre to wave the torch off on it's next leg of it's journey. 

We were up by 5am, and in the city centre just before 5.45.  And we couldn't find anywhere to park!!!  Unlike Sutton Park, Victoria Square was not deserted.  There was a couple of thousand people there, { or so they said on the TV tonight.}  Not everyone had got up early, a fair few were still on their way home from Saturday night.

         People gathering to listen to the brilliant band and choir in the Victoria Square...Queen Victoria's statue (and me),  shivering in the cold morning sunshine.

          .....The torch bearer, waiting nervously for the flame to be carried out to her from the council house where it had been kept overnight.....

          ....The Lord Mayor of Birmingham in all his finery, been interviewed by the local radio station...

                ......a previous torch bearer proudly showing off her torch, and telling us how the support team had warned her not to let go of her torch before she ran, and how scared she would have been if she had had to admit to them that she had lost her torch before she even started her turn.

     We thought about driving on and joining in again, but in the end we headed for home, a walk and a Sunday fry-up to celebrate. 
      This afternoon we went to the Vintage fair in Sutton Town Hall.  It was packed, vintage is very trendy round here at present.  Girls you would have loved it....so many treasures to be had and so many good ideas to pinch.  I was so tempted to buy a little cute wall shelf, but I need a little encouragement and enthusiasm from one of you lot....Dad is not exactly known for his enthusiasm for buying someone else's old junk when we have got so much of our own at home.  Can't you just hear him????
       However, he stood quietly and watched that stunning group of girls singing old songs, dressed in stockings, suspenders and tiny little mini-dresses.  I thought they were rather good, dad simply forgot to listen......talk about VINTAGE!!!!!.....Cave-man is more in mind. 

Well, we've seen it......

 

.....and in the centre of Walsall too...

 

....unfortunately the bearer had got that metal thing stuck right in front of our face as she passed us....

"Awe mum" I heard a little girl cry in front of me "They could have used a really big torch" I think she was expecting to see the one used in the opening ceremony.

                              The street changed from this....

                 ......to this in a few minutes as more and more people poured into the town.

    After the convoy had passed we walked with the crowds down to the town hall where the Torch stopped for lunch!   Afterwards it went on it's way and 1/2 an hour later the same street looked like this....

     While the torch was been fed we wandered round the street entertainers.  I couldn't help thinking we would all look like this....

               ...if the Olympic sponsers-McDonalds and Coca-Cola- had their way....

      Everyone paused to look at the huge rank of police bikes parked in the street....

  
               .....and this young girl in her chair had proudly carried her torch and then stopped to let people pose for photos with it.  I thought it rather sad that in the scramble to get their precious photos, no-one seemed to be aware of the person in the chair.  "Ask Zakia" I heard her father [?] say over and over again  as people pushed forward to grab at her torch. It was as much her special moments as it was anyone else's, and she was beaming with pride at her achievement.