Today I've mostly bin...

[Bunnylump]

I think we do tend to think the world comes to an end without the internet, but it's not always right! Mind you, poor LAT is still having trouble with hers (hence protracted absence!).

[Bunnylump]

...Recovering.

Yesterday we went to Birmingham with Janet and her husband. We called in to Birmingham University to collect her oldest son and had a look around the university first. Then we drove to the dreaded BARN DANCE in Sutton Coldfield. This was so far out of my comfort zone you would not believe. But I have to say, even worse than that was having to go to the pound shop (how embarrassing is that?) and buying ...wait for it... a cardboard cowboy hat with a British Bulldog and an England flag on it!! (Obviously I modified it by adding an Old cow to the fron of it...

Anyway, it was a good chance to catch up with lots of old school friends who I hadn't seen for a few years. Mind you, after I'd helped my friend clear up the hall, we'd dropped Janet's son back to uni and then drove home...we finally got back at 5 30 am. I'm too OLD for all this!!

(This terrifying image will self destruct in one day!! )

EDIT There, that's a relief that scary old woman's gone now, isn't it?? (Prepared to bet Scurra DOESN'T replace it!!)

[maisie ladybird]

Being an old cowgirl suits you Bunny, you look great!

[Bunnylump]

Actually, I'm more adept at being an old cow...as I'm sure Scurra will testify...

[gill216]

even worse than that was having to go to the pound shop (how embarrassing is that?

Not embarrassing at all Our favourite shower gel is £1.52 in the supermarkets- £1 in the pound shop. Baby socks £2.99 for three pairs elswhere (same brand) 6 pairs for £1 in the pound shop. Disposable food storage containers , 6 for .99p in the supermarket. 10 for £1 in the pound shop.

Try it more often- there are bargains to be had if you pick your way through the tat.

[Bunnylump]

I know I sound like a total snob. But it's just so full of chavs and shady looking characters! And having to queue up to buy a hat which made me look like I might be a member of the BNP was just about the last straw!!

[Scurra]

(This terrifying image will self destruct in one day!!)

Oh no it won't.

[gill216]

I copied it and saved it too

Edit: I think we should have a photo gallery

[Bunnylump]

YOU truly are an evil jester, AND an evil lilo surfer!!But don't worry. Next time I drag either of you out somewhere I'll make sure I take some nice incriminating photos of you doing something daft...

[gill216]

Start with the evil jesters pink ears

[Bunnylump]

I think I already posted that one!! But I expect he wears them often now, when he thinks no one's looking, so I'll try to catch him out with some clandestine surveillance... (He's convinced I'm stalking him anyway...)

All I can say is, just you wait.

[MBH]

"Take your partner by the nose,
Twist your hips and round she goes...."


Errrr..... Maybe not

I think that picutre looks great - lovely smile It sounds like you had a long day, but at least you have a Sunday to recover.


Last night for me was a bit different at the Cricket Club - they had a charity quiz night. I made sure that my fellow bar-staff and myself had a chance to take part as well and thinking we might need a team name I called us the "Bar Bairns" [leaving it to how well we did to decide if that was a reference to our youth or an anagram]

A page of photos and two pages of characature pictures along with a question-master who sounded like he had done this before - and we were off. But there was a 'twist'.....

The answer sheet was a 5 x 5 grid with numbers 1-25 set randomly in the boxes. He announced which box number the answer went into and then asked either a general knowledge question {Number of sides in a heptogram} or an identification of one of the pictures.

We were playing BINGO - looking for a line of 5 answers before claiming a 'win'. THEN the answers were checked, and if any of the 5 answers were wrong then then game continued.

I'm not sure of the general intelligence level of the crowd there (although after servinge them drinks for years I've got a VERY good idea), but this game was a little difficult for some The queston {For answer box 5 - photo 11 shows a mother and daughter - name the mother} threw a lot of people into confusion that can't totally be blamed on however much they had been drinking

The characatures were used for one particular round which involved an answer box number, a picture box number, then the next answer box was a knowledge question related to the person in that picture. Confused??? No - me neither - but it was fun to watch.

We did quite well on the answers - my partner identified the pictures which I would have been hopeless at, and I knew a lot of the general knowledge. But there were enough questionable answers that if we HAD managed to make a line there would possibly have been a mistake. As it turned out - there were luckier bingo players around.

An interesting twist on the 'pub quiz', and a good night raising money for charity.

[giraffe]

I'm shattered! Four visits to the local (ish) music festival this weekend with the children. Having entered 5 classes they managed to spead them out so that it was four separate visits or a 3 hour plus wait between, so opted for the 35 minute drive home and 35 minute drive back again with different child method.

I had managed to reclaim the top of my book case after taking back the 4 trophies they won last year, unfortunately I have lost it again to three more trophies! Kingsley won a piano class after the boy who was the best pianist grabbed his music off the piano three quarters of the way through his piece and stormed out saying "I can't do it" Leaving everyone in stunned silence and the adjudicator muttering about it being the best he'd heard all day. Anyway he disqualified that boy, even though he came back and played his piece again and awarded Kingsley first place with 90 marks, the highest she's ever got and the standard of the whole class was very high, any of the 8 or 9 entrants could have won. This morning Fenando played his horn and won his class (first out of two!) and then later we heard he had been awarded another trophy for most promising brass player in the whole festival. This afternoon K had another piano class (4th) and a woodwind class in which she played sax and clarinet (3rd and 4th) Anyway, they enjoyed it and heard some really good playing, met old friends from previous festivals and heard some pieces they might like to learn.

[Bunnylump]

Sounds like congratulations should be offered for excellent work today! Well done!

MBH - that's actually a good idea for a quiz night, isn't it? Sounds like you had fun.

[Wulfruna]

unfortunately I have lost it again to three more trophies!

Just scrub out that 'unfortunately'..... Congrats all round! However, I must confess to a bit of sympathy with the poor lad who gave up - I remember the horrible pressure of music festivals which can be awful for any of the kids, let alone the really senstive ones. But it must have been hard for anyone following him . Even allowing for that, Kingsley has clearly done brilliantly and you must all be delighted. It is so great to hear about musical talent - they will have years of pleasure ahead of them, both from performing and from just being in the audience - there is nothing like having played in an orchestra to enjoy the performance of others!

[giraffe]

Kingsley was the only one left to follow Grumpy. He was obviously a perfectionist and rather highly strung, he was still playing better than anyone else present! It made me all the more proud of Lally who had a bit of a nightmare with the piece she played, and had lots of little slips. She was slightly upset afterwards as she knows she can play it better and it just didn't "happen on the day", but she kept soldiering on through four pages and got to the end somehow and didn't throw her music on the floor and stomp out of the room like the older boy did in K's class. Anyway it was an experience and a life lesson about not everything going according to plan.

[chazzie]

...... Walking along part of the Pembrokeshire coastline - and seeing one of the answers in the Advent puzzles!!!! The green bridge and surrounding coastline was stunning!!

[Bunnylump]

It's wonderful, isn't it?? And what a lovely part of the world to be visiting. Lucky you!!

When some of us were in the Cotswolds last year, Scurra said we should have had a treasure trail driving round and visiting the locations which featured in the map trail in the Shakespeare issue. I wish he'd thought of that earlier, because I thought it was actually a brilliant idea. I went on a car treasure trail once, it was really good fun. Maybe we should do something like that sometime?

[giraffe]

I went on a car treasure trail once and it was horrendous! Mind you my navigator was 6 year old Kingsley, helped by 4 year old Fernando and map drooled upon by 1 year old Lally. I was SOOOO stressed by the end that I backed the car into what I thought was a bush and turned out to be a stone wall.

[MBH]

Love the idea of a car treasure trail, but I fear the 'competitive edge' might make it a bit dangerouse [thinks back to running up and down side-streets in London]

Fantastic news on the music front - the giraffe gang should be very proud of themselves, including Lally for pressing on and doing the job as well as she was able to do on the day. ** applause **