A Magic Roundabout Moment....

I was in the London Market this afternoon - supplies of marmite are critical so I had to stock up (amazing what you miss about home - I used to be able to take or leave the stuff but now......)

So there I am deciding whether to go for the small or the large ($6 or $10!!!!) when the shop CD starts playing "The Magic Roundabout" theme.

Non brits won't know what the hell I am talking about but it was a kids TV show adapted from a french show and narrated by Emma Thompson's dad. I also found out later on that the original creator had been smoking something illegal when he designed the characters. I mean - a talking dog - a talking cow???? - a talking snail and a ball on a spring called Zebedee although he would probably be Zeebedee over here.

Anyway the music put a very silly grin on my face and the manageress and I had a laugh about the stuff we used to watch as kids!

Botany can be hazardous to your health!

So yesterday I went on a seed collecting trip with 4 other people - some I knew some I didn't. I can't tell you the location in case some idiot reads this and decides to go and dig the darn things up. Let's just say that the surface was a little unstable. Unstable! who am I trying to kid - you had to walk on the sides of your boots in order to get any grip and of course the plants we were collecting from were quite high up.

"Oh don't worry, there's a rope system" that's actually A rope - singular which goes up and down and not very far to the side so if you're at 10 ft intervals up the slope and the slope is 10ft up to start with, and you're traversing it (without a net) that's a fall of 20, 30, 40 all the way up to 50ft, oh and did I mention that it was nearly 100 degrees out there yesterday and by mid afternoon the thunderclouds were building nicely.

It wasn't all bad though, we did get seeds from over 50 plants and there were tons more that weren't ready so we'll be going back. And I volunteered for this, sometimes I think I need my head examining!!

New Look

As you may have noticed the blog template has changed. Mainly because the old format wouldn't allow the archives to work - no matter what I did! So last night I came clean to C and of course he fixed it in 30 seconds flat by changing the template. grrrr!

Now I only blog things that interest or perplex me and in this case I'm perplexed. What is it with drugs over here - no not class A - I mean pharmaceuticals. This whole "take a pill to cure what's making you ill" doesn't make sense. In UK if I had a headache I worked through it, there was no reaching for the nearest aspirin bottle. Over here if you get the slightest little twinge, god forbid you should grin and bear it, oh no. Run to the pharmacy counter get your 500 acetomenophen (thats american for paracetamol) and chuck them down like smarties.

Now we have a new type of drug non-prescription tablets so far there are tabs for failing eyesight, daily stress (I kid you not), forgetfulness, oh yeah and the latest which helps you "lose weight". All I can say to that is bollocks!

Oh yeah and the small print that flashes up says these tablets haven't been approved by the FDA and don't claim to cure (insert problem here)

Drugs are used like crutches they mask the problem but the underlying symptons remain. I can give you a for-instance. Once a year I see my doctor for approx an hour he gives me an MOT (ugh!) and then informs me I'm disgustingly healthy and he'll see me in a years time. So I've been to my doc 3 times in as many years. First time I did have a teeny problem, food over here upsets my stomach and it was getting to the point where we couldn't go out to dinner so I asked for advice. He thought I might have IBS (I knew I didn't symptons were wrong) but his only advice was to take Immodium half an hour before going out. This seemed pretty cracked to me and I went onto the internet and did some intensive research found a solution that works and we can eat out to our hearts content. So back to prescription/non-prescrip drugs WHY? answers on a postcard please.............................

I've Arrived!

I've arrived! - this is not necessarily a good thing but we'll talk about that in a mo.

C and I have been here over 3 years now and C is doing very nicely thankyou in the credit rating department ie he has one! I, on the other hand was still a credit ghost, no work permit, credit card or even (to start with) a social security number.

I wasn't too fussed about the whole situation until it impacted our car insurance because as a named driver I didn't have any credit and that makes me a bad bad person! so we decided to do something about it and end my badness.

Now those of you who knew me in my spend, spend, spend phase will be wondering what the hell I'm thinking. Yes I know Barclaycard (the devil incarnate) sent me my first credit card 2 days before I was due to go to the UK tax haven of Jersey and armed with it I bought up the town (literally!) then spent the next 5 or so years paying it back. Mum you know how that went but you also know that I'm cured now - I know the money won't just magically appear. I have had a credit card since December of '03 and to date, even though I've used it each month I don't owe my bank a cent of interest - not one iota! Obviously this has boosted my credit rating and as of Saturday I've had 3 credit card approvals, 2 offers to refinance my home and one offer to become a small business owner.....ho hum as hubby would say.

Guess the shredder is going to be getting more of a workout than ever.

Fourth of July and C's Bday

We had a fourth of July party again this year - not quite as well attended as the last one but that is kind of our own fault. It crept up on us this year but we did have a few people over.

The fireworks were spectacular as usual and again we watched them from the concrete pad in the back yard. M&L's little girl was a little frightened by the whole thing to start with but after insisting that we all hold hands to stop ourselves from being frightened she was fine, good job too cos the whole show was 40 minutes long!

We also had the added responsibility of looking after R&T's place as they had gone camping their place wasn't the problem it was the cats - who hate fireworks and so had to be locked inside. C went over and checked on them after everyone had gone home he said the two of them were huddled together in a corner but otherwise OK.

Sunday night we hired "Touching the Void" a well scary film if you happen to be a mountaineer or even for us mere mortals. It's the true story of two guys who go mountain climbing in Peru one of them falls and breaks his leg, the other tries to lower him down the mountain in a snowstorm and succeeds in lowering him into a crevasse!! and having to cut the rope to stop himself from being dragged over. They both survived!

Monday was C's Birthday so he had loads of cards and a couple of pressies - no cake though.

I'm on tree duty this week - they finally came on Friday with an 8ft tall tree which we have to water deeply every day this week and then gradually ease off until the sprinklers are handling the watering. It takes about 30 minutes to fill the moat they made. Next door's cat is fascinated by the hose pipe and keeps stalking the thing, it's probably all he will ever catch as he is the lousiest hunter I've ever seen!