Nights in White Satin

My head is so full of memories and very rarely do I get to talk about them and I suppose because they are events that happened to me they don't have any great relevance to any one else but it got me thinking the other day as I was writing my profile and thinking of music I liked and then added songs that have particularly strong emotional memories for me that maybe I should write a little bit about the importance of each song and the memory connected to it. So will you indulge me and let me have my few moments of fond memories. I will start with Moody Blues " Nights in White Satin" and over the next few days write about the other songs too.

Nights in White Satin, (NWS from now on) takes me back to 1976/7, I was 15 going on 16, a fairly plain , plumpish teenager without much confidence, I wore glasses for distance, though I tried not to wear them out in the evenings, as I felt more attractive without them, but it did cause me problems as I couldn't really see people and had to guess who they were until they walked closer, this did get me into some problems at times.

Saturday Night was the Local Disco in the dingy village hall, the only music played was Heavy rock, the likes of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath etc, the hall was usually full of ugly rockers in their leathers with long greasy hair, which they would swing around when they were head banging to the music. If any of us girls asked the DJ to play some disco music, he would usually oblige but as soon as record started the Heavies would start stomping their feet loudly to get him to stop, very threatening. So after several weeks of this my friends and I learnt to Love Heavy Rock and were out there rocking away with the best of them! I started to notice a nice looking boy who would come in with some friends and sit and watch us dance, he wasn't a rocker, he looked fairly "normal" and he had the cuteist smile which i noticed a few times was directed towards me.

At the end of the evening they always played a slow song to finish up with, on this occasion it was NWS, I usually crept out at this stage because I hated being left when everyone else was smooching but as I tried to leave the hall, this boy stpped in front of me and asked me to dance. It was him, the one I'd noticed earlier, I nearly swooned as he put his arms round me and we danced slowly holding eachother tightly and then he's kissing me, it seems to go on for ever, I can't get my breath. When the record finished he let's go of me but holds my hand and asks if he can walk me home, I have to explain that I'm being picked up as i don't live here in the town, we swap names and telephone numbers and he asks if I will come to the disco next week. I agree , I'm so excited. His name is Dan, he's 17. We "go out" together for a couple of months and then he breaks my heart. I really liked him, it was so bad I felt sick all the time and couldn't eat a thing, Friends thought I had gone mad, but it was LOVE!

One Saturday about 2 months into the relationship I turned up at the disco, (most dates took place at the disco, though he did bike over and see me at home a few times and we were chaperoned by my sister who wouldn't leave us alone for a few minutes!) Dan wasn't there, his mate came in and spoke to me and told me Dan couldn't go out with me anymore. It was over, I was devastated. Eventually he came in himslef and mumbled to me some reason or other but I wasn't really listening, my heart was broken, I needed to get home.

I kept hoping in vain that he would come back to me and the awful thing was he started working inNorwich and had to come on our bus every day so I had to keep seeing him, we'd talk and after a while we became reasonably friendly but .........he ruined it by starting to go out with my best friend!!! At the same time I started to see another boy Tom, but I hated seeing Dan with Linda, and when I finished with Tom it was Dan who picked me up and took me home . Linda finished with Dan soon after as she was going to college.

I have had a brief email conversation with Dan in recent years as I found him onFriends Reunited, he is still in same old job as he was a 17 , married pretty blonde and has 2 little girls and still playes football and cricket.

So when I hear Nights in White Satin it brings it all back, the trauma of young Love!!

Stolen!! Hole in the ground!

HELP! I need a working party over here right now!

Someone has stolen my hole in the ground! I left it last winter safely there in the grass and now I can't find it! Who has crept in over winter an taken my hole in the ground??

No I haven't gone completely mad, last autumn I had a perfectly formed round hole in the grass with a metal tube in it and now it's gone!

I 've been wandering around the garden with my laundry basket and rotary linen line, but can i find where it should go?? I cannot. I've been on my hands and knees , I 've scrapped with a long fork, but I just cannot find the linen line hole in the ground.

Please can you all come over and HELP me!! Otherwise its back to the tumble drier which is such a shame in such warm weather and I am trying to do my bit to save energy, trouble I haven't saved mine!

She's gone!

Sophie has fled the nest, after lots of last minute repacking to get the case down to 20kg, many pairs of shoes removed and left behind, my dear daughter Sophie has flown off to Spain with boyfriend and I do not know when I will see her again, she has no return ticket, but if it doesn't work out I guess she be back again!

Many tears shed last night as I hugged her goodbyeat 2am.

She has arrived safely and says the apartment is lovely and the views are fantastic, she is in the hillside over looking the Port and 10 mins drive from Marbella. I can now start to plan my visit to see her.

Willow Dome

Elizabethm was interested in my Willow Dome yesterday and asked how I had gone about making it, so I thought I would do a brief blog about it! The photos are a bit blurred as they were taken last year with our old camera which we've now discarded. But I hope you can still see the dome.

Don't shoot me down but I have a feeling that I first saw a willow dome in one of the mags from the "dark side"!! Anyway I was quite taken by the idea, I have a very large garden and do not have enough time to make it look beautiful I'm afraid the plants have to fight for their space between the weeds, sometimes the plants win and we get a lovely display of things like Bluebells and daffodils, Rhodadendrons and The Wisteria is wonderful, but some fo the smaller plants get lost and the weeds win! So I'm always looking for large plants or points of focus that distract people's view so they ignore the weeds!

So I thought Wow! I'll build a Willow feature. But How? I didn't have a clue, but in September the Adult Education Booklet came through and I was browsing, looking for Spanish classes for Evie who was off to Honduras later that year and wanted to have some conversational Spanish, when suddenly I came across a One Off Saturday Class for Live Willow Structures!

Perfect ! I thought and signed up for it!

The day of the Willow structure class came along in mid November, and I duly went along to the farm where it was held and to my surprise Lucy's Class teacher was there too! We spend the day playing with willow , building structures, practising weaving with willow and we had a fantastic day. There are different types of willow , in differing strengths and colours, as I wanted to build a dome I needed the tallest rods, these can be bought mail order from Edgar Watts in Suffolk, purchases should be made between Nov and March, that is the best time for planting. There are other companies too,, but this is one I used and they have been excellent. Rods need to be pushed into the ground about 9-12 " and they should start to root and grow by the spring, any that do not take can be removed and replaced the following autumn. It is difficult to explain exactly how you weave , but you start with places rods in a circle opposite each other and you tie in at the top where they joing and once you have basic structure then you in fill and weave more rods through the structure , you can make door and windows too.

But if anyone is really keen I suggest you do a course like I did. The teacher wanted to do willow structures at school so later the next year I helped her build a seat and a dome, It is great fun and exciting to see the structure come to life!

Cars for every occasion- Maybe not!

Yesterday I jokingly said that here we have cars for every occasion and it does seem that according to which car we get in people form a view of the type of people we are and of course now of them are true! Hubby currently drives a very battered old white van to get to work and pick up his lorry and because he is very scruffy in his appearance that fits his image quite well, typical WVM, but when he comes home he will change his jumper and old work jeans for slightly less dirty black jeans and jump in the Mercedes with me and the children and suddenly we are "well off "family! The way people respond is totally different!

On a Sunday though we may all pile into the old camper and go off with the dog and the bikes, Sophie says we look very "pikey" and hates to been seen in the camper, if we have to drop her at work or pick her up , we are told to park in the next road so no one can see the vehicle! It's not a VW consequently doesn't have street cred, it's only a Renault Camper. My normal daily car is Peugeot 406 estate, which gives no pretensions to being anything other than it is, a useful workhorse. Also on the drive in varying states of repair are Mk 1 Escort, Mk 2 Cortina, 3ltr Capri, The Vitesses as mentioned in previous blog, until recently we had a beautiful old Rover of the type that Mrs Thatcher used to travel around in.

Yesterday, my faith in all the cars let me down! It started raining at lunch time and I had to get Martin, Sophie's Boyfriend, to the dentist. He couldn't drive himself as he was having an anesthetic. We jumped in the Mercedes, turned it on, fine engine purring away, I put windscreen wipers on , they gave quick flick , then nothing..............tuns them off and then on again, nothing, tried to open electric windows , nothing happened..................Turned engine off and then back on, still no electrics. Rang Stan , who was in Norfolk,Holt, with lorry, so not much use, he said fuse must have gone.....................So had to jump out of Mercedes and into my old Peugeot, which has stood now for a month, quite nervous as not driven with gear , would I be able to manage. Car started first time, fortunately and I gave gear lever a few tentative shifts, Yes I could do it . Therefore, I was able to get Martin to dentist and then go on for my hospital appointment. If it hadn't been raining it wouldn't have mattered that windscreen wipers didn't work. But I did think I must count my blessings that I found all this out sitting in the drive and not enroute, as it's awful driving with no windscreen wipers!

Sorry, if that is all rather boring and if all you really wanted to know was how I got on at hospital, because I will tell you now!

The inflation process has now begun and don't I know it! In my new boob, (any men on site may wish to look away now, you've had some cars to interest you, this is woman stuff!) I have a magnetic porthole, and the Consultant was able to locate this and mark the spot with an x, he then inserted a needle and filled a huge syringe with fluid, which he then inserted into the port hole, the first 100mls went in no problem, then a second 100mls, I could feel the pressure building up , and it felt like my ribs were being crushed. He just managed to get it all in, but oh my goodness the discomfort is quite immense. The skin is strtched to its limit and the weight is pushing down on my chest. If this is how Jordan feels I feel very sorry for her!

I didn't sleep very well, as it was uncomfotable to move, and today I feel very tired and like I've been run over by a steam roller, but it'll settle down soon. I've not got to go back for another 3 weeks, when he will put more fluid in , got to get to 500mls apparently!

So quiet day today, reading, watching TV and blogging.

The photo is of my Willow Dome which I built 18 months ago.

"Be still and know that I am God"

Un Peu Loufoque in gently advising me to take it easier reminded me of the quote "Be Still and know that I am God", that verse brings back so many memories of my Convent school days.

There was a time when Lynne, my friend of Chocolate fame, and I were going through a very teenage religious phase and we had been befriended by one of the younger nun's. Dear Sr M. she was still a novice and going through a period of indecision about whether to take her final vows or not and at the same time Lynne was considering converting to catholisism. We must have been 17 ish and as Lynne didn't want to do the instruction on her own I went too, so every week we would meet with Sr. M in the old school chapel, such a peaceful, beautiful place. It was such joy to turn our backs on the hustle and bustle of school life just for half an hour and sit meditating and praying with Sr. M. The one meditation that I remember from those days that I used to repeat to myself over and over again was " Be still and know that I am God" and it is so true, just sitting calmly slowly meditating on those words brings such peace to me. So Thank You Un Peu for reminding me!

I probably do need to slow down a bit, it has been a busy week , having had 2 friends over , it is lovely to socialise but it is tiring. Lynne is a wonderful friend but she is very talkative and it was exhausting just listening to her. But she always has such fascinating things to tell me. I told her about this site and how we'd rebelled and walked out off Cl , she was intrigued by our title of Children, Chocolate and Wine and wondered if somehow we could get linked into her Chocolate Show, that would be good wouldn't it?

My other friend Helen, is much calmer and we had a much more relaxed day, she lives with Multiple Sclerosis, ( She says I must not say "suffer from") she's had it for over 15 years but fortunately she is able to receive the wonder drug Beta Interferon and it keeps her going, she still walks and though she experiences lots of difficulties she always has a smile and finds lots to laugh about. So we had a special day together. She is Lucy's Godmother, so I left them playing Monopoly in the after noon whilst I walked the dog!.

I mentioned going for a walk along the Wey & Arun canal and seeing all the beauitful wild flowers a couple of Sundays back, well today Lucy's class are having a Day Out to walk the 5 miles from the Restored Drungewick Bridge to Loxwood, where the next major reconstruction is going on. Stan was needless to say very excited to think that school would take them on such a walk and wished he could go along too, the reaction of the children seems somewhat more restrained, I think they think it will be boring! So after a light rain over night they have gone off this morning and will not be back until 3.30pm, the sun is shining now so they should have a good day.

I'm seeing the Consultant this afternoon and I think the inflation of the tissue expander is going to begin...............so if Matron can be on hand when I get back to make sure I don't float away!

Until later,

Muddie X

Life in the mud- A bit busy

Since getting back behind the wheel I've hardly stopped!

Yesterday I was out nearly all day, it was a coffee /prayer meeting with group of friends in the morning and then had to take Sophie and her friend to Guildford , so Sophie could get her hair re done before going to Spain. So by time I got back it was 6pm and I was exhausted, was in bed by 8pm watching Holby! Anyone else watch it, There are two gorgeous drs on it these days, forget their names but one is Dr strachen and the other is head of Keller, both gorgeous with dark hair and eyes....................ummmmm!

Today is another busy day, must go to Tescos, then a friend is coming for the rest of the day, so i will not get chance to read many blogs.

Until later

Muddie xx

Life in the mud-Beth

Just having a little practice with uploading photos on to blog. So here is another photo of Beth, the Easter Bunny Killer!

I'm going out in a few minutes so will have to blog properly later.

Muddie

x

Life in the mud- On the road again!

Hello, I'm so glad I've found you all again!!
So pleased to see that brownmouse has found us all too after her quiet time.

Well, the exciting news is that I am back behind the wheel.
On Friday I took my first tentative spin in the car, I'm using hubby's old Mercedes coupe which is automatic, I don't think I could quite cope with gear lever just yet. But this car is perfect, it's a comfy old car makes you feel like you are sitting on a sofa and it has such manners, do you know when you turn the engine on it actually has a mechanism for passing you the seat belt!! Isn't that amazing and perfect for me as I cannot stretch back very far.
I drove myself to the large village , where I managed to park safely and went and did a few errands, it felt so good to be out on my own, I mooched around the little shops and went in the charity shops and ended up buying a very pretty old china coffee pot, of no value but it reminded me of blogging because it was covered in pretty purple violets, so I had to have it!
After that I didn't want to go straight home so I called in at the Little Chef, where Evie was on duty and I had a cup of tea and a toasted tea cake. I just wanted her to see I was out and about!
Evie has gone back to Uni now so I am very much more on my own with regard to getting household tasks done. I can do most things, except lugging the Dyson about, it's just too heavy!

It has been a lovely weekend, I was able to take Sophie and Lucy shopping on Saturday as well as taking Lucy to her riding lesson, we had a big Roast dinner for Evie sat night and then she went back to Southampton. I rested a bit more on Sunday , watching "Bride & Prejudice" in the afternoon and then we did a BBQ in the evening.

Today, will be a good day and very apt for this site!! My friend who is putting on The Chocolate Show at the NEC is coming for lunch. I'm hoping she will be bringing more chocolate like she sent me before my operation, the scrummy Tahitian Pearls, as I'm all out of chocolate at present!! She now has the website up and running for any of you interested in chocolate, everyone?? thought so!! It's a very simple address: www.chocshow.com. The event is to take place in February 2008 now, perhaps we could have a special meet up there!!

I haven't mastered how to do photos yet as when i was signing on to photo part of site I had a power cut and lost every thing, so that will have to wait to another time.

Have a good day ! I'll go now and post this and read a few blogs.
Warmest Wishes dear friends,
Muddie x

Life in the Mud-------I'm here at last!!

Testing, testing, 1,2,3,

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?
JUST KNOCK IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!

I'm just going to post this and see what happens , if all is well, I'll write properly tomorrow

Muddie xx