Oh how I laughed yesterday, a friend sent me a link to an old video. As a teenager I was in love with Gerry Shephard he was one of the lead singers with the Glitterband.
They were Gary's backing band but I loved him before they started out on their own and joined Gary's fan club to get information about his band. With a lot of determination, me and my best friend Sharon discovered where 3 of them lived, John Springate, Peter Phipps (Her favorite) and Gerry.
During the summer holidays, we would get a red bus rover and go all over London, one fine summers day we decided to go to south London and pay a visit to our hero's. Gerry lived in a house in Steatham with his Mum and Dad! I remember the name of the road to this day. Gleneldon Road! I was so excited and scared. I was 13 years old and about to meet my hero! In fact I was so scared that I made Sharon go and knock on the door.
After a minute or so the door was opened by his.....Mum!! Sharon politely asked if Gerry was in and she replied rather vaguely 'Oh no sorry, he has just popped up the shop to get me some toliet rolls'!!! Ha I crack up laughing about it now but then?!! TOILET ROLLS?!! GERRY? HE DIDN'T GO AND BUY TOILET ROLLS HE WAS GOD!!!!! I must admit I was crestfallen!
Still, not to be deterred, she assured us he would be back in a little while so we went down to the shops and hung around for a bit, and then went back. Sharon knocked again and this time he opened the door!! Oh wow!! But what did I do? I was so shy/scared/dappy I hid behind a bush until I was coaxed out!! LOL
Sharon was in love with Peter and she never did get to meet him, we went to his house too but he had left a little while earlier and all we did was wake his Mum up as she came to the door in her dressing gown! We did phone her too once and she invited Sharon around for tea as she was so thrilled that someone loved her Peter!!
A few years later we met Gerry and John again after a concert they were both very nice, but sadly Harvey (Who was driving the car Gerry was a passenger in) was too up his own bum to stop long enough to give us his autograph.
Those days are long gone but I do have a giggle about them with Sharon. Great memories!!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thankyou
I have never been one to go to my family in times of crisis, especially my parents. Recently I have been having a crisis which I was urged to talk to my Dad about. I tried to sort it out myself by other means but seemed to have been thwarted in all attemps (Another blog about that another time)
Finally I had no choice but to go and speak to my Dad. With my Mum recently dying the last thing I ever wanted to do was add stress and worry to his grieving process, but, he was a ROCK!! In fact he made the crisis simply seem like a blip, it even seems to have done something for him too by making him feel useful.
Thankyou Dad. Love you lots. You paid me a compliment by telling me you always thought of me as being pretty 'sorted' I am sorted now and I will be eternally grateful.
Finally I had no choice but to go and speak to my Dad. With my Mum recently dying the last thing I ever wanted to do was add stress and worry to his grieving process, but, he was a ROCK!! In fact he made the crisis simply seem like a blip, it even seems to have done something for him too by making him feel useful.
Thankyou Dad. Love you lots. You paid me a compliment by telling me you always thought of me as being pretty 'sorted' I am sorted now and I will be eternally grateful.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Little Miss Naughty
I came across this a few months ago while I was having a clear out. This is Christine aged one with a friends son (They are still friends)Considering she will be 30 this year its quite an old picture. Don't you just LURVE the furniture?.........
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
One for Akelamalu
I have been asked for a ghost story by Akelamalu This is true and I really can't explain it but here goes.
After the breakdown of my marriage I went with my daughter to live with my parents for about 2 years. At the time they were both working so used to leave the house about 7am in the morning leaving me and my daughter there until about 8am when I would take her to the childminder and go to work myself.
One morning I got myself and Christine ready and as I tried to open the front door I found I couldn't open it, at first I thought it had been double locked from outside by my Mum or Dad when they had left for work but discovered that actually the latch had been clicked up from the INSIDE. The only person capable of doing this was myself as Christine was about 2 foot tall and hadn't yet moved out of her cot although she did walk by then. I certainly hadn't done it. To be honest, at the time I thought it was strange but didn't give it much more thought.
2 days later, my parents went to work as usual, I pottered downstairs after getting ready letting Christine sleep on for a bit (I had a terrific childminder who lived opposite, who would take her in her PJ's and sort her out)I was sitting in the back living room reading the paper and heard a distinct click in the passage. Again I took no notice, its an old house prone to creaks clicks and bangs from time to time.
I went upstairs to get Christine out of bed and as I brought her down the stairs she got very aggitated and started crying 'Tell man to go away, tell man to go away' and was looking at the front door. I couldn't see anyone, but I stopped halfway down the stairs as by that time, she was trying to hide her face under my jumper and was getting very distressed and looking towards the front door and then trying to hide her face again. I must admit this icy feeling came up from my boots as I tried, really really tried, to see what she was seeing. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I tried to keep myself and her calm. I said loudly, 'Go away man, you are scaring my daughter' and then tried to coax her to have another look, eventually she looked around and then smiled and told me the man had gone. I took her to the back living room gathered our things got to the front door and the latch was up locking us in again!!!
That evening when I got home I spoke to my parents about it and my Dad being a total non believer in the paranormal poo pooed the very thought, but I went to the front door and had a quiet word. When Christine had calmed down she described a man with a 'hat like grandads' (A flat cap) bent with a stick and a grimace (She did these actions as she could only describe him simply)
Many years previously the house had been two flats and my Dads brother and wife had lived in the downstairs one which allowed them use of the cellar. My aunt would never go down the cellar as she maintained there was an old man down there. One day she came to visit and she explained that before they took the flat over it was lived in by Old Mr so and so (Sorry can't remember the name) when he died they got the flat and one day she went down the cellar to get coal and saw him picking through the coal himself. She fled up the stairs as she knew perfectly well he was dead!! She described him as wearing a flat cap and bent over with a walking stick. Because he didn't have any teeth when he smiled he looked quite scary.
There you have it, she described the same person that Christine had seen but I take comfort that at least he was smiling at her!! And after my quiet word, the door latch never did mysteriously put itself in the up position locking us in again!!!
After the breakdown of my marriage I went with my daughter to live with my parents for about 2 years. At the time they were both working so used to leave the house about 7am in the morning leaving me and my daughter there until about 8am when I would take her to the childminder and go to work myself.
One morning I got myself and Christine ready and as I tried to open the front door I found I couldn't open it, at first I thought it had been double locked from outside by my Mum or Dad when they had left for work but discovered that actually the latch had been clicked up from the INSIDE. The only person capable of doing this was myself as Christine was about 2 foot tall and hadn't yet moved out of her cot although she did walk by then. I certainly hadn't done it. To be honest, at the time I thought it was strange but didn't give it much more thought.
2 days later, my parents went to work as usual, I pottered downstairs after getting ready letting Christine sleep on for a bit (I had a terrific childminder who lived opposite, who would take her in her PJ's and sort her out)I was sitting in the back living room reading the paper and heard a distinct click in the passage. Again I took no notice, its an old house prone to creaks clicks and bangs from time to time.
I went upstairs to get Christine out of bed and as I brought her down the stairs she got very aggitated and started crying 'Tell man to go away, tell man to go away' and was looking at the front door. I couldn't see anyone, but I stopped halfway down the stairs as by that time, she was trying to hide her face under my jumper and was getting very distressed and looking towards the front door and then trying to hide her face again. I must admit this icy feeling came up from my boots as I tried, really really tried, to see what she was seeing. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I tried to keep myself and her calm. I said loudly, 'Go away man, you are scaring my daughter' and then tried to coax her to have another look, eventually she looked around and then smiled and told me the man had gone. I took her to the back living room gathered our things got to the front door and the latch was up locking us in again!!!
That evening when I got home I spoke to my parents about it and my Dad being a total non believer in the paranormal poo pooed the very thought, but I went to the front door and had a quiet word. When Christine had calmed down she described a man with a 'hat like grandads' (A flat cap) bent with a stick and a grimace (She did these actions as she could only describe him simply)
Many years previously the house had been two flats and my Dads brother and wife had lived in the downstairs one which allowed them use of the cellar. My aunt would never go down the cellar as she maintained there was an old man down there. One day she came to visit and she explained that before they took the flat over it was lived in by Old Mr so and so (Sorry can't remember the name) when he died they got the flat and one day she went down the cellar to get coal and saw him picking through the coal himself. She fled up the stairs as she knew perfectly well he was dead!! She described him as wearing a flat cap and bent over with a walking stick. Because he didn't have any teeth when he smiled he looked quite scary.
There you have it, she described the same person that Christine had seen but I take comfort that at least he was smiling at her!! And after my quiet word, the door latch never did mysteriously put itself in the up position locking us in again!!!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Black Hole
Mmmm, So the government is going to bail out the banks AGAIN with our and future generations taxes. In the meantime, the said banks will continue to hound (sometimes to death) ordinary Joe for a missed payment, whilst sitting on piles of hoarded money they were given in the first bail out and bleat that their assets are only worth 30 billion instead of the usual 70 billion. My heart bleeds, but only for ordinary Joe.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Bomb site
Even though I was born in 1960 I still remember the bomb sites left over from the blitz of WWII. We had a really large one at the top of our turning, open to the elements with mountains of bricks and building rubble that, as little kids, we would clamber over and play games.
I look back and find that quite amusing. No health and safety in those days. My sister being 8 years older than me can remember personal things and effects being among all the rubble, but by the time I started playing on them most of that stuff had gone to be replaced by the locals unwanted rubbish. I was banned from playing there, quite obviously it was a dangerous place to play, but play there we did. Once I cut my knee very badly and went running to a friends Mum because my Mum would have given me a terrible telling off. We used to build camps or just root around in it.
Nowadays if that were to happen it would be immediately boarded off with huge notices proclaiming that it was a dangerous place for children to play. In fact, it wasn't until recently that it occurred to me that they were places where people had their homes bombed and where some may have died. I just took them for granted as they were always there. I never used to think about HOW or WHY they were there.
Eventually our favorite debris was cleared away and a new school was built there. My local primary school in fact. So the children continued to play on it and still do where the playground now is. There were lots of stories after the school was built about 'haunted toilets' a story that was doing the rounds even when my daughter attended there. Never saw a ghost, but did once witness along with another girl, the door handle going down,the door opening and then the door handle going back up and the door closing. There was a glass panel in the door and no one to be seen..............................
I look back and find that quite amusing. No health and safety in those days. My sister being 8 years older than me can remember personal things and effects being among all the rubble, but by the time I started playing on them most of that stuff had gone to be replaced by the locals unwanted rubbish. I was banned from playing there, quite obviously it was a dangerous place to play, but play there we did. Once I cut my knee very badly and went running to a friends Mum because my Mum would have given me a terrible telling off. We used to build camps or just root around in it.
Nowadays if that were to happen it would be immediately boarded off with huge notices proclaiming that it was a dangerous place for children to play. In fact, it wasn't until recently that it occurred to me that they were places where people had their homes bombed and where some may have died. I just took them for granted as they were always there. I never used to think about HOW or WHY they were there.
Eventually our favorite debris was cleared away and a new school was built there. My local primary school in fact. So the children continued to play on it and still do where the playground now is. There were lots of stories after the school was built about 'haunted toilets' a story that was doing the rounds even when my daughter attended there. Never saw a ghost, but did once witness along with another girl, the door handle going down,the door opening and then the door handle going back up and the door closing. There was a glass panel in the door and no one to be seen..............................
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The uncertainty of it all
To get to the point, my employer is in trouble. They owe a certain government department a shit load of money because someone on high has been cooking the books. Ordinarily, if it were a regular staff member that had 'made a mistake' we would all be subject to a witch hunt and the offending person dismissed. Because this 'mistake' has been made by the executive group they are not going to 'conduct a finger pointing exercise'. Mmmmm wonder why?
It would also seem, that because it has been written in their contracts, they have also received their performance related pay bonuses, unlike a few of the staff that were on a contract that gave them option days (A day off a month for a 45 minute lunch, instead of an hour) that 'perk' has been phased out but the performance related 'perk' can't possibly be!!!
We have a big union meeting coming up on Friday, thats going to be interesting, a lot of the attendees at the last one weren't even union members!! Strking is not going to do any good as we have all been put on alert to voluntary redundancy and then compulsory redundancy. Bet none of the executive group will be made redundant though. Oh well, whats the point in worrying, its only money after all and they do say the devil looks after his own.......
More on the issue here
http://www.thecasscrisis.blogspot.com/
It would also seem, that because it has been written in their contracts, they have also received their performance related pay bonuses, unlike a few of the staff that were on a contract that gave them option days (A day off a month for a 45 minute lunch, instead of an hour) that 'perk' has been phased out but the performance related 'perk' can't possibly be!!!
We have a big union meeting coming up on Friday, thats going to be interesting, a lot of the attendees at the last one weren't even union members!! Strking is not going to do any good as we have all been put on alert to voluntary redundancy and then compulsory redundancy. Bet none of the executive group will be made redundant though. Oh well, whats the point in worrying, its only money after all and they do say the devil looks after his own.......
More on the issue here
http://www.thecasscrisis.blogspot.com/
And this is the other half of my family
This is my sister Linda, BIL Ray, nephew Steven and niece Bertie taken at the same place. Poor Steve was the one who was supposed to get married, but didn't. Still he is young free and single now, so if there are any nice young ladies out there.....don't contact me!! He is doing very nicely for himself thankyou!!!My Family
Well this is a photo you won't see often. Here's me with my daughter Christine, SIL Petrus, Grandson Kai and Grandaughter Sian. It was taken on a weekend in Torquay when we were supposed to be attending a wedding. The wedding was cancelled but the weekend wasn't and all the 'guests' turned up anyway. A good time was had by all.Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Lost and Found
A few weeks back I lost one of a lovely pair of earrings that were brought back from Mauritius for me. I was gutted, mostly because I wasn't going to Mauritius any time soon to replace them!!
Anyway, this weekend I changed the bed linen and got out the clean bedding from the time before, put the cover on the quilt, closed the poppers, put the quilt on the bed, decided the far bottom corner needed straightening so flicked the quilt back and there, embedded in the frilly bit was a shiny ring.
On closer inspection, I discovered it was the missing earring, all nice and shiny after going through a thorough washing machine cycle. It had stayed where it was because when I had stripped the bed I had pulled the quilt cover inside out. So now I am going to have to find a way of putting the other one through a washing machine cycle as it is not as shiny as the lost/found one.
Shame really, it would have been nice to have a good reason to go to Mauritius.............
Anyway, this weekend I changed the bed linen and got out the clean bedding from the time before, put the cover on the quilt, closed the poppers, put the quilt on the bed, decided the far bottom corner needed straightening so flicked the quilt back and there, embedded in the frilly bit was a shiny ring.
On closer inspection, I discovered it was the missing earring, all nice and shiny after going through a thorough washing machine cycle. It had stayed where it was because when I had stripped the bed I had pulled the quilt cover inside out. So now I am going to have to find a way of putting the other one through a washing machine cycle as it is not as shiny as the lost/found one.
Shame really, it would have been nice to have a good reason to go to Mauritius.............
Monday, January 12, 2009
Friend Indeed
It was Susie that first put me in touch with you. She told me you were very easy to talk to and indeed you were. Over the years we became friends. Turkey was our common interest.
My lasting memory of you is a day at Olu Deniz beach. The waves were coming in thick and fast and the sea was quite rough. What did you do? You grabbed my hand and together we ran towards the next wave which promptly took me off my feet and rolled me at the waters edge until I truely thought I was about to drown. I was gasping for air but that sea just kept rolling me over and over. Then for a split second it stopped and I managed to gasp some air and get my head out of the water, it was then that you lost your balance and fell on top of me so that the sea took me and rolled me around at the waters edge again. This time it didn't last long and when I managed to get to my feet I noticed about 4 men running towards us getting ready to rescue me. I was quite shaken up at the time but you thought it was hilarious. You decided it was time to run at the waves again, but this time you didn't notice the big one coming in and as you turned to run into the sea and then caught sight of the massive wave that was about to engulf you, you turned on your heels with a look of sheer horror and tried to run away from it. The look on your face was pure comedy as you tried to scrabble up the slope away from the wave then BOSH!!!!! It rose above your head and knocked you over. Luckily you were ok, but even you then decided the sea was getting too rough to run at the waves.
Throughout your life you have fought a lot of personal demons and bravely conquered them. Despite having days when you could have quite happily stayed in bed, you struggled out of it and got yourself a little voluntary job at a charity shop.
I don't think you ever lost your sense of fun. Always laughing at some ridiculous thing. You used to bop along to Groove Armada or your favorite ska records. You also gave very wise advise, always pointing out a different perspective.
I know that when you finally got your diagnosis you were terrified, but instead of giving in to your fear you laughed at the same ridiculous things. Only last week you were laughing at the fact that you had been given Ketamine (horse tranquiliser, as you referred to it) to control your pain and joked that you had always said you were built like a horse.
I am glad that I saw you for one final time, you had finally realised that so many people loved you for who you were. Once someone met you, you left a lasting impression which made people want to stay in touch with you.
A lot of people are going to miss you Kay. May you frollick in the waves of Olu Deniz forever.
My lasting memory of you is a day at Olu Deniz beach. The waves were coming in thick and fast and the sea was quite rough. What did you do? You grabbed my hand and together we ran towards the next wave which promptly took me off my feet and rolled me at the waters edge until I truely thought I was about to drown. I was gasping for air but that sea just kept rolling me over and over. Then for a split second it stopped and I managed to gasp some air and get my head out of the water, it was then that you lost your balance and fell on top of me so that the sea took me and rolled me around at the waters edge again. This time it didn't last long and when I managed to get to my feet I noticed about 4 men running towards us getting ready to rescue me. I was quite shaken up at the time but you thought it was hilarious. You decided it was time to run at the waves again, but this time you didn't notice the big one coming in and as you turned to run into the sea and then caught sight of the massive wave that was about to engulf you, you turned on your heels with a look of sheer horror and tried to run away from it. The look on your face was pure comedy as you tried to scrabble up the slope away from the wave then BOSH!!!!! It rose above your head and knocked you over. Luckily you were ok, but even you then decided the sea was getting too rough to run at the waves.
Throughout your life you have fought a lot of personal demons and bravely conquered them. Despite having days when you could have quite happily stayed in bed, you struggled out of it and got yourself a little voluntary job at a charity shop.
I don't think you ever lost your sense of fun. Always laughing at some ridiculous thing. You used to bop along to Groove Armada or your favorite ska records. You also gave very wise advise, always pointing out a different perspective.
I know that when you finally got your diagnosis you were terrified, but instead of giving in to your fear you laughed at the same ridiculous things. Only last week you were laughing at the fact that you had been given Ketamine (horse tranquiliser, as you referred to it) to control your pain and joked that you had always said you were built like a horse.
I am glad that I saw you for one final time, you had finally realised that so many people loved you for who you were. Once someone met you, you left a lasting impression which made people want to stay in touch with you.
A lot of people are going to miss you Kay. May you frollick in the waves of Olu Deniz forever.
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