LizzieM

Only the South Wing for £2.7m though. Who’d want to spend that much for a semi?!! I think that Chek Whyte (made-up name), originating from Ilkeston, bought it a few years ago. He bought lots of other Halls over a few years ...... Colwick, Bunny, Stanford. Surprised he hasn’t put in a bid for Wollaton, giving the City Council a bit more dosh to mess with. Don’t know anything about him and wouldn’t comment on here if I did!

We owned a leg of a racehorse once upon a time and went to Windsor to watch it come in nearly last. I enjoy a little gamble now and again and have a Paddy Power account but haven’t let gambling get the better of me! We used to go racing a lot years ago, but in the comfort of a box at the south-east racecourses, courtesy of the friend who persuaded us to invest in THAT LEG. We had great times and met some really interesting and well-known people In the box, my favourite was the late George Martin, a lovely man, his missus was up her own though!

The only time I’ve seen hares boxing was from the window of a property we were staying in in the south of Sweden. An amazing sight, to me anyway. In our 5 acre wood in Hertfordshire we had a badger sett, possibly more than one. I got a call from the owner of a neighbouring field who’d seen men from what I assumed was a Badger Protection League in our fields. We’d got post and rail fencing, dividing 3 paddocks from the wood and fixed onto that we had sheep wire to keep livestock in. Bravely I got our beautiful docile but scary-looking Rhodesian Ridgeback on a lead and went to investigate. These men were cutting big holes in the wire-fencing, to allow the badgers to roam all over the fields. I told them they were trespassing and to clear off, they went away without uttering a word! One moonlit night I got up for the loo, looked out onto the lawn and saw several badgers playing and having fun, little devils used to dig the lawn up regularly.

There’s a young fox wanders around Mapperley Park at night just recently. We used to get foxes regularly, going through bins but didn’t see any for several years. This young one seems fearless, he just sits and observes what’s going on, not timid at all. At our previous, (rural) home we bought a dozen guinea fowl And one by one they were killed by Mr Fox. When we’d lost 6 we bought another dozen. Eventually every single bird was killed by the fox. Of course guinea fowl roost in trees, you don’t put them away at night so it’s pot-luck whether they remain safe. They laid eggs all over the place but we never once tried one as we didn’t know how long they’d been lying in the middle of a flower bed or wherever! A friend who came over to do tree work for us would always bring his Border Collie along. The dog kept himself busy all day by rounding up the guinea fowl and moving them all over the garden.

You could still be lucky this month Mary, the other results aren’t out yet!

Had a lovely couple of days with one half of our family who came to Dorset to see us. Our Czech daughter-in-law decided to drive with the kids to her homeland in early June, all the way with no overnight stop, 15 hours I think! Very brave but a little crazy. Our 7 year old granddaughter went to school over there for 2 or 3 weeks (something she couldn’t have done in England), our 18 year old step-grandson caught up with his Czech friends, skateboarding, cycling and partying, and to be honest they have had a more exciting and happy few weeks than they would have done if they’d stayed in this country. The lad is fully fluent in Czech as he’s spent many school holidays over there with his grandparents and the little one is able to go from English to Czech quite well. We spent time on the beach and had a very special catch-up, the first time we’ve seen them since Christmas, although we’ve seen our son a few times while they’ve been away, because he’s been a little lonely!! Must admit though that it wore us out ....... we really enjoyed having them here but quite happy they don’t live around the corner!

Better get the duster out MD

Great! Get back up there.

Very very similar packaging too. Lidl’s also have a copy. We had Summer County when I was young, didn’t know any difference and it was, I assume, all down to cost. I’ve always preferred slightly salted butter but don’t have any preference, I mostly buy the spreadable stuff but usually have some real butter in the fridge too, it does taste a lot nicer.

Our second son arrived in 1979 and we had no intention of going on holiday with a new baby but our neighbours persuaded us to have their caravan in Mundesley, Norfolk for a week. We weren’t at all bothered about going as the baby was only a few weeks old, too much hassle, but felt we should accept their kind offer and be grateful. It was ok and the weather was lovely but what we remember most of all is everything covered in greenflies ........ Gt Yarmouth Prom looked like a lawn. We had greenflies in our hair, eyes, mouths! We were glad to be back inland at the end of the week. I seem to remember that this event was then followed by hungry ladybirds everywhere you looked.

Everyone book a staycation for next week ....... Mr and Mrs Catfan always pick a good week weatherwise!

Just happened to log onto Facebook at the right time this afternoon. Someone on our local community Facebook page was offering 36 hardback Children’s Classics for nothing! I got in there quick and won them, with our granddaughter in mind. She’s only 7 and definitely a bit too young but they’ll keep and they’re in perfect condition. Don’t suppose she’ll be interested for 3 or 4 years but she loves reading. In fact one of the collection is Gulliver’s Travels and I’m going to read it. I might enjoy it more this time ....... the last time I HAD to read it was in 1966 for English Literature ‘O’ Level! I passed thank goodness.

About 20 years ago a young man knocked on our door, attempting to sell cheap horrible tat. He showed his ID, I stood there studying it and the address of the company he was ‘working for’ was Rolleston Drive, Arnold. I told him that I knew it well and used to live along the road from there ..... he looked very sheepish. The thing was, this was when we lived down a 100 yard long drive, off a country lane in Hertfordshire, about 100 miles away from Arnold. The house couldn’t be seen from the lane. I probably bought a pair of oven gloves or something, as I always worry that they’ll come back and do dastardly things if I don’t fork out. We had a scary-looking Rhodesian Ridgeback in those days, there were odd times when I was glad of her presence.

Oz, I love that song and/but whenever I hear it I'm reminded of the funeral of an employee several years ago. There'd been a church service in Sedgefield County Durham and then many of us trouped cross-country to the local Crem. On arrival the widow was sitting on a bench outside smoking a cannabis joint, and was being urged by the funeral director to finish it. Finally, as the coffin was carried into the chapel to this song, the widow followed it, dancing, singing and swinging her arms about! The most unusual funeral we've ever been to but really amusing memories! A bit of 'an ham tea' back at their house where she tried to persuade us to adopt his 15 ft snake that was in a great big glass box attached to the sitting room wall! We declined. Never seen or heard from her again!

Maybe he gets a thrill from the fact that all the locals know him? As you say, each to their own.