Cumbria part 2

View from the car when Nanny directed us half way up a mountain, only to realise it was a dead end and on the way down we met half of the county's sheep population coming the other way. the helpful elderly shepherdess asked, "Did you think I was standing int road fot good of me 'ealth?" so we just blamed Nanny and took pictures of the sheep like good little tourists!

The rest of our holiday was amazing, Doris and Little Fink went horse riding on a very rainy Saturday, they had a great time and I was 'proud mum' when I saw Little Fink on her pony, "Pinto" cantering up the beach.

We also took in the sights of St Bees - the wind had whipped the sea up into foam which was blowing all round the place - surreal.

We went to Ravenglass and saw the narrow gauge train, "L'al Ratty", we also visited the nearby Roman Baths (baths in Cumbria - they must have been mad brrr!). Then we headed up to Muncaster Castle and took in the castle, we waited patiently for the herons to come down to be fed on the battlements of the caste, Graham was beside himself but unfortunately the clocks had got back the night before and the birds had all been there an hour earlier. Graham was the only heron at the celebrated and widely advertised event! (During his whole day out with us, only one lady asked us why he was there. I told her Little Fink was 'special' and she would only be calm if she could bring Graham everywhere!! he he). Doris, Ched, Nanny, Little Fink and I went on a ghost walk (it being Halloween an all) round the dark grounds of the castle, we were led by a guide in Victorian costume telling us about the various murders and wrong doing that had gone on in the area, resulting in the ghosts and ghouls we were to see. As we passed a gazebo on our left a blood curdling scream resounded, Nanny shrieked in my left ear and Little Fink in my right. It was pretty scary. Then we headed up to the church, were led inside and given some background info, then walked back into the darkness outside. As the church door closed with a satisfying gothic thud, the church bells started to ring - THAT was spooky, church bells in the dark. brrrr. We rounded the corner listening to tales of Jenny Greenteeth who could just out of the water or hide under bridges, ready to trap unsuspecting children, when as we rounded the corner and passed a massive clump of gigantic bamboo, over 10 feet tall, the bamboo started to shake and rattle and a manic laugh came from within. Terrifying. As we rounded the final path and were told the tale of the poor woman drowned in the river Esk by 2 fellows, a shrieking woman figure in a white shroud ran up the path in front of us. We finished by walking down to the castle fire juggler. In some ways he was the scariest thing as his act was so bad!

In any case, I recommend a trip to the castle after dark. they also light up some of the trees in different colours, well worth a visit imho.

Look out North, here I come!

Nanny, Little Fink and I are off to Cumbria for half term. We'll set off on Wednesday at about 10 and head off up the motorway. Mr Fink has been offered several gifts of dinners by well meaning friends - how come I don't get these offers when he goes away?

I bet he gets fed well with The Foggs when he visits them too!

I'm in a quandary as to what things to go and see while we are away. Little Fink and Doris are going horse riding along the beach on Saturday morning. I'm considering going to Muncaster Castle for the Halloween celebrations - they also have a heron feeding event at 4.30pm, I bet Graham will enjoy that! I'm also considering going to the roman fort by Hardknott Pass (imagine a two way traffic, single track road with a 1 in 3 gradient and no passing places), but I think we'll just play it by ear and go with the flow.

I'll be back in 10 days with tales of adventures with metal detecting, Nanny, Little Fink, Doris and Ched. ta ra!

Memories and Glasto

Mr Fink and I have been having Glastonbury in our front room, air bed on the floor and as much cold cider as you can shake a stick at, TV sound loud and proud through the super duper stereo and plenty of good music to choose from.

The Specials, Franz Ferdinand, Pendulum, Madness, Paulo Nutini, Lady Ga Ga, The Noisettes, Jamie T and Tom Jones (The REAL King of Pop). Sadly no Nick Cave (Mr Fink and Little fink think he is great - bit morbid for me) and we purposely missed The Boss and The Quo.

Watching Madness and The Specials brought back a host of memories from the early eighties. I remember playing a version of rugby at break time which involved a pair of balled up gloves and a massive 'bundle' with boys and girls trying to retrieve the 'ball' and get it to their end.

I remember my friend asking me, "Who's your favourite gangster?" and me innocently (I had not heard the record) saying, "Al Capone."

I remember the same friend writing on her bedroom walls with black marker, one day I went to call for her, she was due back any time so her mum let me into her room and I had a field day writing teenage angst all over the place - very cool.

I remember once having a couple of mouthfuls of cider then pretending to be drunk? (heaven knows why?)

I remember Wattoo Wattoo a crazy Belgian cartoon involving a black and white bird and another one called Baron Munchausen who was a head on feet - I never really 'got' that one?

I remember buying a wooden spoon and my friend and I giving it back and forth for Christmas for years. I remember us buying babies dummies and walking down the street sucking them. Buying cherries and sucking them till the stones where clean. Lentil fights in Geography lesson. I remember the Porky's films, Discos 'up the Civic' and rollerskating. I remember my friend and I inventing an imaginary friend Abercrombie. I remember games of Monopoly with Ched in the Summer holidays that went on for weeks (we took out all the bad cards!). I remember late Summer evenings in the park, sitting on the swings enjoying each others company. I remember everyone wearing donkey jackets from Top Shop, mine came from the building site my dad worked on and I got the 'Laings' logo off it with nail varnish remover. I remember my jeans being to wide and 'dingy' so I used the treadle sewing machine to take them in so far that I had to lie down and put them on inside out - ankle first and peel them onto my legs. Wonderful days. Lots of smiles.

Whirlwind

Rowan Atkinson in a sketch from The Secret Policeman's Ball where he and Peter Cook are doomsdayers discussing the end of the world. Rowan says, "Will this wind, be so mighty, as to lay low, the mountains of the earth? (All will become clear as to why this is relevant in a mo!)

Alright campers, all back on Terra firma. The Fink family had a great time with great friends. The weather was patchy, ranging from beautiful sunshine (4 days in total) to gale force storms (5 days and nights one after the other!), the rest was grey and overcast. The winds were so mighty as to lay low a lot of the tents and awnings. Many campers packed up and went home but our little group battled it out with the help of industrial size tent pegs and the Glums' awning (we sheltered in there for warmth and company during the worst of the weather).

Dorset was beautiful, lovely sunsets and big skies. Weymouth beach as always a pleasure. Mr Glum earned a new nickname from Ched and Doris, he is forthwith to be known as "Bambi", because he is long legged and accident prone, like the young Bambi - very apt. The Big yellow Bambiboat made its inaugural sailing at Weymouth, which was great because Mr Fink and I didn't think it was going to arrive at all on the top of the Glumbus, secured to an inflateable roof rack (I kid you not). You should have seen the Glumbus going down the road at 50mph with a 15ft inflateable yellow canoe strapped to the top of it! So funny. We all had a turn in the Bambiboat and it was good fun, especially when ALL six of the children got in!

The children where a delight and so funny, well behaved (in the main) but terrible at washing up! I have a terrific video, which I will treasure, of Stinky wrestling with her brother Slash on the ground, when I ask her what she is doing, she looks up in mid scramble and says, "I'm trying to kiss my big brother." He howls, claims to need the toilet and runs off. In the next film, Little Fink is wrestling Bambino (Son of Bambi, aka Goober), I ask her what she is doing, she replies, "Trying to kiss Marsha's big brother!" She fails and resorts to giving him a noogie instead!

LMI's mum and dad - Pisky (she is Cornish and looks like a Pixie) and Homer were good fun and helpful too, when Doris's tent canopy needed zipping up she needed someone really tall to help, Bambi wasn't available so Mr Fink and Pisky joined forces and with her on his shoulders, reached up and did up the zip! Mad. Homer and Mr fink went on a 9am bike ride to Abbotsbury that wiped them out for a good couple of hours after. They vowed to go again the next day but chickened out when the time came, claiming sore botties!

Big Mac and Abu Dhabi were great fun too, Big Mac kept Mr Fink entertained on trips to Lulworth and Chesil Beach, she is so funny, had me in hysterics more than once! Especially with her shrimp impression! You go girl!

The campsite was lovely, well kept, clean and tidy. When the winds were at their worst, the staff were patrolling the fields and fixing or tying down damaged tents while the owners were away, so caring - All hail the staff at East Fleet Farm Touring Park, 10/10 from The Fink. Might see you next year!

Hooray, Hooray, its a holi holi day

I am writing this with 20 hours to go until we set off to holiday, when you read this, we should be on our way or there! Joining us on our camping trip to Weymouth are,

LMI and her parents and 2 dogs Bart and Izzy;
Ched, Doris and my niece and nephew Slash and Stinky;
Mr & Mrs Glum, Marsha, Goober and Pongo.
Abu Dhabi and BigMac.

Many moons ago when Mr Fink bought his new car, he promised me faithfully that all the gear would fit into it, last night as we started to pile the kit up in the dining room at Fink Manor he started to look a bit shifty and scared. The morning will tell.

Oh what a night.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR FINK!!

and a big thank you to all those that accepted our birthday party challenge of turning up in the loudest shirt! There were 2 prizes, one went to Mr Emm (Mrs Emm also made a valiant effort) seen here on the left and the other went to Marsha who spent all morning designing and colouring in her own 'Owl & the pussycat' shirt.

We had a wonderful time with family and friends surrounding and supporting us. we couldn't be happier than when in the bosom of our clan!

All hail to the chili, lemon drizzle cake, samosa, salmon sandwich, smoked trout, birthday cake, quiche, beer, wine providing lot of you, we couldn't have done it with out you and would not have wanted to. A big thank you to Ched and Doris for all their help and for providing the weather!

Mr Fink is now 40 and getting Wii Fit! he also wants to thank everyone for his gifts - he wasn't expecting any and loved every one!

I'm off now to give him a thrashing at cow racing and tennis. xxxxx

Doctor Who ROCKS!

Wasn't Doctor Who fab last night. Shame about Catherine Tate, when I watch her all I can think about are the characters she plays in her TV series, hopefully this will pass and I'll see her more as Donna as time goes on. The truth is, you can't beat Billie. Ho Hum.

Wow, the school holidays go so fast. 2 weeks of fun and travels. Little Fink spent the first week campervanning in Tewkesbury with Nanny and Shouty Grandad. The place had been flooded again (3rd time since Summer) so they stayed in the car park of the Hawbridge Inn, Appley and had a wonderful time. Shouty Grandad was on top form as usual and has been scavenging and recycling whilst on his trip. Apparently he met with some resistance in Tewkesbury when he wanted to find out the time to see how long he had left on his parking meter. He approached one local and asked/shouted, "Excuse me, what time is it?". The man just kept walking despite Shouty Grandad's repeated question. The next person just threw up his hands and ran away when Grandad asked him. (I know how the man felt, I want to do that some times!) The second week Little Fink and I have been visiting our friends - Little Fink has been sleeping over, we went for a lovely walk around the lakes near BigMac's house, saw cormorants, butterflies and 3 big furry bumblebees on the ground. 2 of which had apparently stung the ground nearby and died. We are very puzzled as to why? (EVEN more strange - on Doctor Who last night (series 4 Episode 1) Donna mentioned the mystery of the disappearing bees? Cue Twilight Zone music!) We had The Oracle and her daughter (Loo) round for lunch and we went to see the 3D Hannah Montana concert at the cinema. (Review - Brilliant, I really enjoyed it, sang along to the songs I knew and enjoyed the interspersed documentary bits - Miley Cyrus is a brilliant role model for girls Little Finks age. All power to Hannah.) On Thursday we went to Brightlingsea near Jaywick (see lead photo) for a beach day, (me, Little Fink, Shouty Grandad, Nanny and the metal detector). NANNY FOUND TREASURE. A 1954 ha'penny. She was like Howard Carter opening King Tut's tomb! Brightlingsea is a lovely place and needs a return visit for some further exploration. As the tide went out it revealed a gooey sticky green-black mud flat. Little Fink was instantly attracted to it. By the end of the day she was covered from knee to toe and hand to elbow in it. As we walked back to the 'dog tap' to wash her down, a passer-by thought she was wearing black boots! She had the best time. It was very refreshing to just let her get filthy without having to keep saying, "mind this, mind that, don't get mucky" etc etc. Very liberating.

This weekend it has snowed and Mr Fink and Little Fink have already been out, had a snowball fight, made 2 snowmen and come back in for breakfast, all by 9.30am!

What a fortnight - made special by all our friends.

The Funniest Journey

After leaving York, We headed off to see Ched and Doris, Mr Fink dropped me off and I planned to stay for a few nights. They already had company, their niece and nephew, 'Stinky' and 'Slash - Guitar Hero'. We decided to go to Whitby to search for Jet and to have fish and chips by the sea. The journey there was really funny, I taught the children the rules of the 'yellow-car game'. http://www.yellowcargame.co.uk/ We managed to get to Whiby in more or less one piece, despite the snow and had a smashing time. It's a really beautiful town, very oldie-worldie, cobbled streets, steam buses, fish and chip shops, old fashioned sweets and really windy, snowy cold weather. We went to search for Whitby jet but couldn't find any. Stinky found a lump of slate and when I checked her coat later, most of Whitby beach in her coat pocket. The children and Ched went up the 199 steps to Whitby Abbey, the inspiration for the Dracula story. Doris and I sensibly remained behind and shopped for jewellery.

So after a lovely day we headed home, Ched and Doris in the front of the car and me, Stinky and Slash in the back, I sat in the middle to minimise the effects of the yellow car game fallout.

As I relaxed and rested my head, the radio started to play, "The number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden. I have never heard and seen anything so funny as 2 beautiful, blonde, angelic looking children (aged 6-Stinky and 9-Slash) singing in tune and at the tops of their voices (one in each of my ears)...

"Six, six, six the Number of the Beast. Sacrifice is going on tonight"

They made the journey home fly by. Brilliant

Doctor Who and the DIY Monster

On Saturday (prior to Mr Fink's DIY binge) we headed off to Hertford Museum to see the Dr Who exhibition. Brilliant. Hertford seems to be a lovely place - needs a bit more exploring but the market seemed good. The exhibition was great, a real tribute to the English eccentric. I love this country! There was a full size replica of the TARDIS, home made, and it looked home made too.

Imagine, the guy that made it usually keeps it in his back garden! Fantastic, only an Englishman would spend hours making something utterly without use then keeping it hidden away where noone could see it! There was a home made K9 and 2 home made daleks (one a professional replica and one made by an 11 year old) plus several collections of Doctor Who memorabilia, ranging from the fanatical to the hysterical.

I would recommend it, the childrens quiz was brilliant and Little Fink really enjoyed it.

It must be Spring, Nr Fink has his decorating head on (remember Worzel Gummidge?) I had to reign him in on Friday, he had already decided he needed to pull up the hardwood flooring in the front room, ready for the new carpet to be laid, prior to the new sofa being delivered. "Hang on a minute, my love," quoth I, "the guy wot selleth the carpet doesn't come till Monday, ar'n't you getting a bit ahead of your self?" He agreed and contented himself with painting 2 of the living room walls, this made the 3rd look mucky so he did that...then the 4th....then the coving...yes, then he ceiling. I really should not complain, I am utterly useless at decorating and just b**ch and moan if I have to do any. Mr Fink has, on one occasion, thrown me out whilst decorating - to be fair, Ched was down at the time and we are murder when we get together! Anyway. he worked like a trooper and the room looks great, really crisp and clean - I am very proud of him. Now all I have to do is find some more stuff to sell on Ebay to pay for it all! I sold our cream leather sofa on Ebay and we decided to resurrect our IKEA 'Poang' chairs from the loft, down came all he bits of leg, back, seating and connecting bits of wood. "A really clever person would have put all the screws in a bag and tied it to a part of the chair." I offered helpfully to Mr Fink whilst he was up the ladder, half in the loft. "Oh look," he said, "the last piece of chair....with a bag tied to it... with all the screws in." Now that NEVER happens!

A lot to catch up on

Where do I start? I went for a Christmas meal with my old department on Friday. The food was terrible. We joked about the chef being on holiday and the hardness of the pheasant, the tepid nature of the veg and the general disjointedness of the presentation of the courses. I won't name the pub but it's between Hilliers and the narrow bridge. Things started to brighten up as soon as I got home, mum was there with Little Fink, Ched and Doris were on their way.

The evening went well, lots of drink, talk and catching up - too much of all three for me by all accounts! Saturday was taken up with shopping and preparing for the Buncefield Bash - a celebration that we are all still here after such a large explosion. The guests arrived (apart from the ill ones and the stay at home ones). The kids played and drew a beautiful montage for my wall. We talked, shared stories, laughed, played games. Allan lit fireworks and we all admired Mrs Glum's Buncefield cake, a triumph of victoria sponge, chocolate icing, jelly baby firemen, chocolate matchstick girders and coloured coconut 'flames'. Wonderful. Best of all, my favourite thing... my friends all around me, enjoying each others company. We even managed to make some decisions about our joint holiday.

Ched and I stayed up after everyone sensible had gone home or to bed and talked the night through about all and nothing until 6am. Usually we only realise it's time for bed when the sun comes up - there's nothing like watching a sunrise with your best cuz.

Sunday morning came and went, Little Fink, Ched, Doris, and I went swimming in the afternoon and lost our hangovers while playing with the foam floats, along with Mr Glum and the Glumettes. Meanwhile Mr Fink made Finkpie (Shepherds pie to you!) and after feeding our faces with it and Doris's pickled onions, Mrs Glums pickled cabbage and beetroot (Ched and Doris have polished off a whole jar of Mrs Glum's pickled cabbage at one sitting before now!) I sat down for a siesta, Doris and Ched went to the Spice Girls concert and all was quiet.

A wonderful weekend, over too quickly.

Close encounter with my Cuz

In a few weeks my favourite cousin, Ched and her partner Doris, will be coming to visit for a party. My sentiments in her words, "I'm giddy at the thought", I enjoy her company so much. Many a time we have stayed up drinking and talking, putting the world to rights until we watch the sun rise together. This is my favourite story about my favourite cousin.

Ched was in the pub, testing the local brew for quality and quantity. A man at the bar was extolling the virtues of his shiny new mobile phone and making sure everyone in the pub knew how expensive and full of gadgets and gizmo's it was. He was bragging and boasting to the extreme until My Fav Cuz turned to him and said, "I bet it can't swim" and dropped it into his pint of Guinness.

I wasn't there but I do know Ched and she would have. Like the time we were having a family and friends BBQ. I had invited a few families and Ched too. One of the husbands (we shall call him Coulthard for his driving style on Scout camp) which none of us knew very well, explained to Ched that she wouldn't throw that bucket of water at him (for we were having a water fight) because he was sitting at the table fully clothed. Ched dutifully informed him that if he dared her, she would. He reiterated she hardly knew him and wouldn't actually throw the water.

Ched threw the water and Coulthard was drownded. The moral of this? Ched is fair but don't dare her to do ANYTHING.