Yesterday I took part in a strange phenomenon which seems to have taken over people's weekends, something which I've done before but not, it would seem as seriously as some people.
A car boot sale!
Do these sales happen in other countries?
Are they called car boot sales or something else?
It's a strange event which involves getting up and to the venue at some unearthly early hour. Once there tables of varying stability are laid out and boxes are emptied haphazardly onto them for members of the public to come and rummage through. The junk that some people are selling, and DO sell is quite remarkable. What's that saying? One mans junk is another mans treasure?
In years gone by I have been very occasionally to sell my junk at such sales. Usually on some muddy field somewhere. I remember going once with my brother and my mum. We had, like most people, a dodgy pasting table with its customary uneven surface which only dips in the middle as you load more and more stuff on to it.
I remember how we looked in horror when said table, laden with our prized possessions, toppled forward and into the mud!
In fact my brother was always a very good salesman at car boot sales. We all took our own things to sell and while my mum and I would stay at our stall, my brother would wander off and would often come back with a box. "not more stuff" my mum would say and he would end up selling the contents of the box for a lot more than he paid for the whole box.
Yesterday was a showery day which didn't really help although there were plenty of people there. Luckily we weren't in a muddy field but on a car park and my table is much more sturdy.
I was there to sell some books on behalf of a local scrapstore and was pleased that considering the weather I did ok. I'll definitely do it again but hopefully on a day when the weather is better.
I may even take some of my unwanted possessions, my junk, to see if it can become someone else's treasure.
Monday 25 June 2012
Sunday 17 June 2012
Spot the dog!
Me and the dog have just got home after a lovely weekend visiting my parents.
On Friday my mum and I went to the Birmingham Symphony Hall to Dance to the Music. For fans of the TV show Strictly Come Dancing it is a fabulous 'must see' experience. The Strictly Dance Band led by Dave Arch, with four brilliant singers played a variety of music, from blues and soul to disco and Cuban. What talented musicians and such excellent voices they boast. In addition they were accompanied by four of the Strictly dancers. Kristina Rihanoff and her dance partner Robin Windsor along with Artem Chigvintsev and his girlfriend/ dance partner and winner of Strictly in 2010 Kara Tointon. As well as dancing each dancer took the mike at some point during the evening and spoke with the audience. There was audience participation and by the end of the night we were all up dancing in the aisles. A great night out, well worth running through torrential rain from the car park to get there!
On Saturday morning I was up early to attend a tutorial for my Open University course that I'm doing about Diabetes.
I spent the rest of the day with my family. My brother lives with my parents and has just got home from a 6 week trip to New Zealand which happily resulted in him being offered a job there. So he is home to sort out all his belongings, sell what he doesn't want and get ready to go back out there.
Today is Fathers Day so it was nice to be able to spend time with my Dad. Mum & I had thought we could go out for lunch but poor Dad wasn't feeling too good so we scrapped that idea.
Get well soon Dad!
Maisie the dog loves going to my parents. She always gets very excited when she sees them and loves the freedom of their lovely big garden. Unlike at home Maisie has a large patio door to look out into the garden and can see all the birds, squirrels and brave cats who venture into the garden. Once she is outside she loves trying to chase the pigeons off next doors roof. However her favourite thing to do is to hide under the big Acer bush up the garden.
Can you spot the black and white dog?
On Friday my mum and I went to the Birmingham Symphony Hall to Dance to the Music. For fans of the TV show Strictly Come Dancing it is a fabulous 'must see' experience. The Strictly Dance Band led by Dave Arch, with four brilliant singers played a variety of music, from blues and soul to disco and Cuban. What talented musicians and such excellent voices they boast. In addition they were accompanied by four of the Strictly dancers. Kristina Rihanoff and her dance partner Robin Windsor along with Artem Chigvintsev and his girlfriend/ dance partner and winner of Strictly in 2010 Kara Tointon. As well as dancing each dancer took the mike at some point during the evening and spoke with the audience. There was audience participation and by the end of the night we were all up dancing in the aisles. A great night out, well worth running through torrential rain from the car park to get there!
On Saturday morning I was up early to attend a tutorial for my Open University course that I'm doing about Diabetes.
I spent the rest of the day with my family. My brother lives with my parents and has just got home from a 6 week trip to New Zealand which happily resulted in him being offered a job there. So he is home to sort out all his belongings, sell what he doesn't want and get ready to go back out there.
Today is Fathers Day so it was nice to be able to spend time with my Dad. Mum & I had thought we could go out for lunch but poor Dad wasn't feeling too good so we scrapped that idea.
Get well soon Dad!
Maisie the dog loves going to my parents. She always gets very excited when she sees them and loves the freedom of their lovely big garden. Unlike at home Maisie has a large patio door to look out into the garden and can see all the birds, squirrels and brave cats who venture into the garden. Once she is outside she loves trying to chase the pigeons off next doors roof. However her favourite thing to do is to hide under the big Acer bush up the garden.
Can you spot the black and white dog?
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Jubilee Celebrations
And so our long weekend of celebrations have come to an end.
Since before Christmas, a small group of us have been meeting regularly to plan our local Jubilee event. We had so much planned, very exciting stuff. Music, dancing, food, arts & crafts, childrens races etc. each of us had little jobs to make it all come together.
It's been great fun and on a personal level it's meant I have become more involved in my community, I've met new people, made new acquaintances.
Our special day was planned for Sunday.
Saturday arrived and a group of us met at the community centre and playing fields to put up marquees and gazebos ready for the following day. The past two weeks have given us glorious sunshine but Saturday was 'drizzly'.
Not to be put off we continued, all hopeful that Sunday would dawn as a brilliant and dry day!
When I awoke on Sunday I was saddened to see it was dull and overcast and it had been raining overnight. I was actually woken up by one of our stall holders phoning me at 7am to ask what the field was like, was it waterlogged etc. As I don't live right next to the playing fields I couldn't really answer!
I'm happy to say that although it rained almost all day, many many people came and supported the event. About half of my outdoor stall holders turned up - hardly surprising! All but one of my indoor stall holders arrived too. One outdoor stall holder arrived, set up her gazebo and stall and then decided to take it all down and go home.
All in all though it would seem that all the stall holders did well, people bought things so they were happy. Meanwhile some of our scheduled outdoor entertainment happened inside instead. Every time I got a chance to go inside the community centre, it was packed with people. Watching a gymnastics or dancing display, listening to the Samba or Jazz band or viewing the wonderful displays of memorabilia set up by a local museum
and another by a lady who had worked for several years on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship.
We did cut our day short slightly but all in all it was a great day. Once people started packing away we set about taking down all the gazebos and tents. We stored them at the Community centre overnight and met again next morning to load them onto a van and return them to their owners, the Farmers Market, who had kindly lent them to us.
Hubby and I arrived home literally soaked through to our skin! We stripped off and had a lovely soak in a hot bath.....aaaahhhh bliss, followed by a much deserved hot chocolate.
We caught up on the National Jubilee events. What a sight the Jubilee pageant was although it did rather feel like we were looking at a motorway of boats! It was such a shame that it rained and I did feel sorry for the Queen who stood up for the whole thing. I know there were two throne like seats which she could have sat on but they were in entirely the wrong position. They should have been positioned facing to the side so she could easily have sat down and watched the boats going by.
Last night we took part in our own local Beacon lighting. It was quite something. We went up with our neighbours to a hill not far away. We had to drive over several fields until we arrived at the beacon. Two locals had been up to build it earlier that day, it was huge!! Several folk were already there, sat around on hay bales, wrapped in blankets. We took some wine to drink and all chatted. It was lovely to see people arriving, either the same way as us or emerging from the other side of the hill by foot.
At about 2215 the giant bonfire was lit as we all sang God Save the Queen and raised our glasses in a toast! It was wonderful to see the fire take hold and we set off fireworks as it blazed brightly. We could see for miles around and could see several other beacons, some brighter than others, in the distance.
When we came home we watched the rest of the Jubilee concert. It was such a great spectacle, especially where the stage had been built. There were so many famous artists playing. Highlights for me were Robbie Williams, Tom Jones and Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth choir. That brought tears to our eyes. The group Madness playing on top of Buckingham a palace was a stroke of genius especially when accompanied by the amazing lighting effects which were projected onto the front of the palace. It was truly wonderful to see so many thousands of people all there on the Mall, enjoying themselves, waving their Union Jack flags and cheering.
It was such a shame that Prince Philip was not able to accompany the Queen, but I'd like to think he's secretly relieved to be able to rest his feet and watch the coverage on TV from his hospital bed.
Today was the thanksgiving service followed by the Queens procession and fly past. This, once again, was a fabulous event. It's watching such things as these that make me so proud to be British. Seeing the beautiful carriages and horses, the accompanying guardsmen on their horses in their colourful uniforms is a brilliant sight. Hearing the bands playing and the crowd singing God Save the Queen is heart lifting.
I hope as a nation this has lifted our spirits as we look forward to the Olympics starting next month!
God Save The Queen!!
Since before Christmas, a small group of us have been meeting regularly to plan our local Jubilee event. We had so much planned, very exciting stuff. Music, dancing, food, arts & crafts, childrens races etc. each of us had little jobs to make it all come together.
It's been great fun and on a personal level it's meant I have become more involved in my community, I've met new people, made new acquaintances.
Our special day was planned for Sunday.
Saturday arrived and a group of us met at the community centre and playing fields to put up marquees and gazebos ready for the following day. The past two weeks have given us glorious sunshine but Saturday was 'drizzly'.
Not to be put off we continued, all hopeful that Sunday would dawn as a brilliant and dry day!
When I awoke on Sunday I was saddened to see it was dull and overcast and it had been raining overnight. I was actually woken up by one of our stall holders phoning me at 7am to ask what the field was like, was it waterlogged etc. As I don't live right next to the playing fields I couldn't really answer!
I'm happy to say that although it rained almost all day, many many people came and supported the event. About half of my outdoor stall holders turned up - hardly surprising! All but one of my indoor stall holders arrived too. One outdoor stall holder arrived, set up her gazebo and stall and then decided to take it all down and go home.
All in all though it would seem that all the stall holders did well, people bought things so they were happy. Meanwhile some of our scheduled outdoor entertainment happened inside instead. Every time I got a chance to go inside the community centre, it was packed with people. Watching a gymnastics or dancing display, listening to the Samba or Jazz band or viewing the wonderful displays of memorabilia set up by a local museum
and another by a lady who had worked for several years on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship.
We did cut our day short slightly but all in all it was a great day. Once people started packing away we set about taking down all the gazebos and tents. We stored them at the Community centre overnight and met again next morning to load them onto a van and return them to their owners, the Farmers Market, who had kindly lent them to us.
Hubby and I arrived home literally soaked through to our skin! We stripped off and had a lovely soak in a hot bath.....aaaahhhh bliss, followed by a much deserved hot chocolate.
We caught up on the National Jubilee events. What a sight the Jubilee pageant was although it did rather feel like we were looking at a motorway of boats! It was such a shame that it rained and I did feel sorry for the Queen who stood up for the whole thing. I know there were two throne like seats which she could have sat on but they were in entirely the wrong position. They should have been positioned facing to the side so she could easily have sat down and watched the boats going by.
Last night we took part in our own local Beacon lighting. It was quite something. We went up with our neighbours to a hill not far away. We had to drive over several fields until we arrived at the beacon. Two locals had been up to build it earlier that day, it was huge!! Several folk were already there, sat around on hay bales, wrapped in blankets. We took some wine to drink and all chatted. It was lovely to see people arriving, either the same way as us or emerging from the other side of the hill by foot.
At about 2215 the giant bonfire was lit as we all sang God Save the Queen and raised our glasses in a toast! It was wonderful to see the fire take hold and we set off fireworks as it blazed brightly. We could see for miles around and could see several other beacons, some brighter than others, in the distance.
When we came home we watched the rest of the Jubilee concert. It was such a great spectacle, especially where the stage had been built. There were so many famous artists playing. Highlights for me were Robbie Williams, Tom Jones and Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth choir. That brought tears to our eyes. The group Madness playing on top of Buckingham a palace was a stroke of genius especially when accompanied by the amazing lighting effects which were projected onto the front of the palace. It was truly wonderful to see so many thousands of people all there on the Mall, enjoying themselves, waving their Union Jack flags and cheering.
It was such a shame that Prince Philip was not able to accompany the Queen, but I'd like to think he's secretly relieved to be able to rest his feet and watch the coverage on TV from his hospital bed.
Today was the thanksgiving service followed by the Queens procession and fly past. This, once again, was a fabulous event. It's watching such things as these that make me so proud to be British. Seeing the beautiful carriages and horses, the accompanying guardsmen on their horses in their colourful uniforms is a brilliant sight. Hearing the bands playing and the crowd singing God Save the Queen is heart lifting.
I hope as a nation this has lifted our spirits as we look forward to the Olympics starting next month!
God Save The Queen!!
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