Birthday - evening

The day was something of a damp squid, life went on as usual and very little marked today as being anything special.

This evening though I know that Robin had arranged a birthday meal out for us. To be honest, I was wondering if I was going to bother. Now I am glad I did.

Because I had not been a party to a bit of scheming done by a (very) loving husband. In the past few weeks he had been carefully selecting and inviting friends and family to join us for this birthday meal.

My first surprise was that the taxi was not so much a taxi but a cruisy friends car - with them along too! Then I did not even notice my lovely in-laws as we went into the restaurant! And to top it off - a beloved sister and brother in law too. All in on the secret, and all, a surprise to me.

I've not smiled so much in ages, I drank in the pure pleasure of having these people not only in my life, but willing and able to be there to celebrate my birthday! It was the best present, to be valued by these fabulous people. So thank you, you know who you are. You made this evening really special for me. What a great way to end a birthday.

Birthday

Well, it's here again, March 28th, my birthday. And this year it is grey and pouring with rain.

Sadly, my 'Big' present has arrived and had to be returned (they sent the wrong one) And the gorgeous shoes I bought myself yesterday are far too summery to wear today - aw! Oh, and yesterday I lost my voice, and it's only just returning!

What was totally lovely though, was having the kids wake me up singing 'happy birthday', swiftly followed by my dear hubby with breakfast in bed. I may brave the weather later for a little retail therapy... then again, I may not.

Fairtrade cuppa

I may well be discovering this LONG after everyone else - but I was pleased to find out today that Tchibo coffees are fairtrade in their cafe's. Sadly the sugar they use is not - yet, but I gather some employees are pushing for it to be. Also, their ground coffees available to buy are Fairtrade as well - with the exception of instant which they are working on! It's very nice to know that the fairtrade movement is spreading to the high street.

Oh, and when buying your ground coffee to take home, why not pick up some chocolate as the perfect accompaniment? Tchibo chocolate bars are Fairtrade too!!!!!

There are many Fairtrade products popping up all over the place - it's great not to have to go out of your way to choose more responsibly

BBC iplayer

A good few months ago, I was invited to be a part of a test group for the BBC iplayer (before it's launch obviously) There was a kooky log on process, and if you got past that, the thing kept falling over and was barely useable. In fact, I gave up on it, and only when the ads on tv started coming thick and fast, did I bother to look it up again.

I am really glad that I did. It is a rare and wonderful thing when something works so well! I was surprised that it is so easy to use, and plays your selected tv show with no delays, or out of sync sound - it even allows downloads of higher quality.

In this sky/itunes climate, we've become somewhat resigned to paying for on demand and/or quality programmes - how refreshing it is to access many (sadly not all) BBC programmes, in many genres - FREE!!!! (ok, technically anyone who pay for a tv licence is paying for this anyway ....) No credit card needed, just click, and enjoy.

Missed a BBC show lately? Check out BBC iPlayer.

Re-cycling round here is rubbish

We are constantly being told to reduce, reuse or recycle. And I believe that we should be doing all we can to reduce the impact that we have on our envionment.

Probably the easist thing to do is use the kerbside re-cycling schemes that most, if not all local authorities now provide. When we moved to our present address I was pleasantly surprised I could request any number of boxes, and had a long list of what can go in them. In our 3 boxes I even seperate the items so that it is a simple case of the boxes being emptied into the correct bin on the truck. I'm doing my bit.

But the company who are contracted to gather all this stuff we have washed out, and seperated are not playing ball. They discard the lids and boxes all over the kerb and road - and take no care to make sure all the items go into the truck - leaving a trail of litter behind them! Plus, sometimes they don't even turn up on the right day, so we're guessing whether to take the boxes in or hope they'll come the next day.

I have complained, so have others. I also believe that it is discouraging some from bothering to recycle at all, as all they seem to do is pick up their re-cycling that has been strewn all over the street.

Are we alone I wonder...

Another unpleasant animal incident. Two in a day!

Herbie the kitten mistook the magazine rack for his litter tray.

Magazine rack, linen, in the bin.

Magazines, catalogues, papers, design file...... in the bin.

Kitten. In the dog house (not literally)

Nasty thing in the car park

I Pulled into the car park at our local Sainsbury's this morning. As I stepped out of my car a huge mangy, rat sauntered between the cars and into the trolley park. I don't think I actually did anything because I was frankly taken aback by how relaxed it looked.

I made a beeline for customer services where I mentioned the flea bitten car park visitor, they pleasantly thanked me for letting them know (but as far as I am aware - did nothing) I had to scoot round selecting items from high up shelves that could not have possibly been anyplace near that thing, all the while dreading going back out the car in case I might find the rat leaning against the car or something, eugh!

Rats and supermarkets - bad mental association, just can't shake it........

facebook - the blog killer?

I just realised that it has been a really long time since I last posted. Over two months which previous to the summer would have been unthinkable! So to all those who dip in every now and then - I guess an explanation might be helpful.

I blame it all on Facebook.

I was probably one of the most cynical about facebook's benefits until I joined in. But now I am finding it just as compulsive as everyone else. It is such an easy way to re-connect with people that you've fallen out of touch with, and keeping up wth friends and family all over the globe is now easier and fun. I do agree with it's critics that a large part of it is essentially a waste of time, but I myself have found it a great tool, and I pick and choose which things I sign up to, tailoring it to the way I want to use it.

I do wonder how many people will actually read this - it is more likely I'll hear from you on Facebook.

Lovefilm?

We do. So we're subscribers to Lovefilm, where we have lists of the movies we want to see - and they mail them to us! Simple, and wonderful. Then we post them back just as soon as we've finished with them - or after how ever long it takes for us to get around to watching them.

Interested? Then go here