My weekend

Our very good friends El and Rog and boys (men really) came last weekend and we had a really lovely time. Chatting, eating, drinking, laughing, and singing! At the boys' request we went to the seaside. It was a lovely day, the sun shone, we found a great pub for lunch and those that weren't driving enjoyed a hair of the dog.

More Grafitti from Bruxelles

Cool Vid!

Rambling does a Pod

I had a really really lovely weekend and when I have downloaded the pics I will blog about it!

Meanwhile here is some great 'art' I saw in Brussels the other week.

Noooooooooooo!

Woke up to this, this morning! How can it be? I was on the verge of getting out my linen and waxing my legs last week. Snow in winter is great, snow when you are expecting summer is pants.

I am stuck at home today, youngest has the lurgies. I just hate not going into work when I'm not ill. It feels like I'm skiving. I have a vague sense of unease when I'm off work.

I have a very definite sense of unease anyway at the moment. Our house purchase has hit a hiccup can you believe? I am so pee-ed off with the owners. We had all agreed happily to an end of May completion date. Now we have had the survey done and have committed money to this, they now say they won't be back in the UK until the end of June and we can't have the house until then. Our rental here finishes on June 14th (though we have said end of May to them so we can get some work done before moving in). They are saying that it's not an insurmountable problem and surely we can extend our rental for a month.

I was very upset that I have to delay having a house for an extra month, mainly because of my gardening passion....the difference between having a house in May and having a house in June, gardening wise is the difference between getting a garden established for the summer and not getting the garden established for the summer. I know, I could be very Zen (is that the word?) about this and think that I've waited this long, why not another month? But quite frankly I DON'T WANT TO! I have been striking out the weeks on my calendar. My mum thinks we should 'stand firm' and tell them what WE WANT. I am very cross they chose this time to tell us and not before. I think that is exceptionally conniving and manipulative. I have written back to them and told them it's not possible, our landlord won't allow it. Huh! Why do I have to resort to lying and conniving? Even a private sale, without the evil Estate Agents, is not without it's EVIL houseowners.

new additions to the family

When I got back from Brussels last week I discovered that Rocket our lovely, but ageing guinea pig had shuffled off his mortal. I was sad. I loved that pig. When I used to come into the garden and call 'Pii-ggs', he would run up to me and squeak.

Anyway, our poor other pig was left alone and looked so lonely in her run that yesterday, Alice and I went out to a pet shop and bought a new friend for Nutmeg. Meet Feisty

But mother got carried away (that's me) and came home with something else;

He's a Rex rabbit, and his fur is so so soft, but his claws are so so sharp! At first his name was 'grey' but this morning he's been renamed to 'Smoky'. He's very cute and very inquisitive.

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By the way, on Friday I went to the Tate Modern. Those pipes were an Art Installation! Apparently the art is the appreciation of it when you go down the pipes, or somefink.

I met up with Moonwalker (a regular commenter on this blog). We hadn't seen each other for about four or even five years. But the years don't matter, there's never any trouble picking up with true old friends. We had a lovely time, a lovely catch up and we're definitely NOT going to leave it so long next time!

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Well, they say we're going to get snow next week. I can't believe that...all the trees are bursting into bloom three weeks before they should so I'm told. All the bees and caterpillars and things are going to die and this summer (which will be hotter than any ever) will be infested with bugs that should have been eaten by other bugs that were killed off in the third week of March. Well, lets see shall we?

guess where I went last night?

aaaaahhhhhhh!

I had a fab time in Bruxelles with my two 'long standing' friends Bridget and Caroline!

This is what we did!

After a two hour, champagne filled Eurostar trip, we took a taxi to our hotel. We did a little unpacking etc and then we walked into the centre of Brussels and found a sports bar where we watched the last of the Ireland/Scotland Rugby match! (WTF!) Bridge and Caroline only happen to come from Irish backgrounds and are a bit partial to a spot of Rugby. One large 'pression' later, we carried on into town to a lovely 'arty' antiquey part of Brussels called 'Sablons' whereupon we had another two grand pressions! When was the last time you saw the black and white minstrel show? Still going strong in Brussels!

Apparently it's some festival for charity where they dress up as African kings!

Then we went and ate in a local restaurant, and had vin rouge. After that (hic) we wandered around the centre of Brussels enjoying the sights. After a while we came upon a fantastic bar called 'La Mort Subite' (which means sudden death). More pints later- along with free tastings of the Belgian specialities beer 'Lambic' and 'Gueueze' we made our way back to the hotel for a drink at the bar!!!!

The next day, we got up late, unsurprisingly. It was a gorgeous day so we went to the park in town by the Royal Palace and ate hot waffles and drank coffee. More cultural walking....

And of course 'le mannekin pis'

We came upon a flea market and stayed for a few hours and more beer!

Back on the Eurostar with more champagne and more tutting from the business people on their laptops.

I have taken some photos of some great Belgian grafitti - I will upload them another day.

And finally.....

It's climaxed!

It's the weekend! Brussels here I come

Brussels tomorrow - yippee!

I had my hair cut and coloured yesterday! I'm pleased with the results.

It's nearly there....just one or two more days....

amyrillis watch

Nearly there. If I stood and just watched it all day, I swear I could see it growing - it's THAT fast!

amyrillis watch

Oh dear, I think that needs lancing!

Actually, the flowers should be out, um, just in time for mother's day on Sunday (it IS mother's day isn't it? Have I got it right this year Dons?).

They are supposed to be white....but who knows, let's wait and see.

I've been on a course today. My work life is definitely looking up. Having EAL qualifications and experience puts me as one of only two people at the whole of my school who can deal with the ever increasing number of EAL students coming through our doors. Which mean that I might (in the future) become the coordinator for the school and and instructor! Being an instructor means I get paid more than I do now, but less than a teacher..... This is all in the future. In schools, things go very, very slowly.

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Our move is still going along. We should have the survey done this week. I just CAN'T wait to get in that house. The owner is being a bit (sorry, A LOT) money grabbing over the fixtures and fittings and that's after I agreed to over see all her furniture going into storage for her on the move day (because they are stuck in Dubai!). I should charge her! harrumph.

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Today, when I got home there was a parcel waiting on the doorstep from Boden. This dress! These shoes, (but not in green, red) and these shoes.

I wish the dress looked like that on me! I look like Gilbert Grape's mum in this at the moment.

I think it's time I started another spring diet... (sigh)

For Bangla Jess

As Bangla Jess has not seen a British spring for eight years I am sending her a wet daffodil and some hyacinths. It's a lousy day here in blighty, windy and rainy but the blossom is out...it was too wet for me to venture up the road to take a picture for you...maybe tomorrow...

Enjoy - sorry we don't have smellovision.

And the forsythia is poised to come out..

And finally...... AMYRILLIS WATCH!

My goodness matron, that's a large one!