Fox River Conspiracy

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=322729&id=598090694&l=f84fc573cb
use this link to check out the other pictures from the night - they're a bit blurry as people were jiving!

Last night, Mr Fink, Mr and Mrs Hammer, Silver Surfer and I went to our local rugby club to see a live rockabilly band, Fox River Conspiracy.

We had a terrific night, fantastic music from the 50's and 60's, Eddie Cochran, Elvis, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly. The authentic twangy rockabilly guitar, the thumping double bass and the vocals were all there. What a great sound.

There was much dancing and drinking. Can't wait till the next time they play. I also met up with Smithy from The Blues Blah Brothers, I haven't seen him for a couple of years and it was good to catch up.

All in all a wonderful evening of local, live music. You can't beat it.

Catch Up

Well, what a busy few weeks.
First up - The Further Adventures Of Shouty Grandad. Every week, three times a week, Shouty grandad goes swimming. Last week he received a verbal warning. "What for?" I hear you cry. Splashing the Lifeguard. I kid you not. Grandad's response was to go and see the manager and tell him the lifeguard should be sacked on the spot. Needless to say the lifeguard is still there (and a little dryer as Grandad has gone on holiday!)

We've been mudlarking again, didn't find anything of note but nanny really enjoyed it. We've enjoyed a great couple of nights out with Silver Surfer and Astral. Once to see Pam Ayres - very funny lady, and once to see Elvis - brilliant. We've celebrated George's 18th birthday - doesn't time fly and it was lovely to catch up with some family I don't get to see half as often as I would like.
Yesterday we saw Little Fink and J1 off to Cub Scout Camp to Blackburn in Lancs. for the week.(see pic above). there were 8 minibuses, 2 lorries and a couple of vans in the convoy. they have masses of activities planned and their progress and daily podcasts can be followed at http://www.leverstockgreenscouts.org.uk/.

Right, I'm off to enjoy the peace and quiet before Mr Fink gets back from golf....it's a hard life!

Shouty Grandad V Sainsburys, who would you put your money on?

Shouty Grandad has been at it again. Today we had a gathering of my mum (Nanny), my dad (Shouty Grandad), Astral (my mother in law) and The Silver Surfer (my father in law). We had lovely food (made by Mr Fink) and listened to yarns and tales of Shouty Grandad's adventures.

He told us a few of his classics, The Keys From the Van, Selling Paint to people from Luton and the Money in the Shoe ones to name a few. I mentioned that I wouldn't be surprised if the local shops had his picture up next to the ASBO kids with a warning note next to it saying, "trouble". Then he said with indignation, "I went in Sainsburys the other day and they wouldn't even slice my bread". Cue hilarity all round. Apparently, he went to the supermarket to buy his usual 1000g uncut loaf which he always gets them to slice for him. This time however, when he offered it up to the chap on the bread slicer, the chap declined to cut it. The reason? the bread was too big!

Well, Shouty Grandad went into his, "I've been coming here for 20 years and the bread has always fitted before" speech, the manager was called and between them they managed to get the bread sliced. The chap put the bread in a bag and handed it to Shouty Grandad. Shouty Grandad looked at the bread, "Where's the end gone?" Apparently the tiny sliver from the end crust had fallen off the loaf and into the machine, from whence it could not be retrieved.
"I can't buy this bread, it's underweight so IT'S ILLEGAL!!" was Shouty Grandad's parting shot.

I wonder if Sainsbury's have a customer hit list?

New Year's Day

The first day of the New Year. A beautiful clear sunrise on a crisp, frosty Winter's day. I collected Nanny (Shouty Grandad chose to stay in bed), rounded up Little Fink, Mr Fink, Asterix and the Silver Surfer and we all headed off to Walton-On-The-Naze for our customary New Year's Day trip to the seaside. Unfortunately, The Glums were still laid low by the lurgy and couldn't be with us this time.

We went for a walk along the pier, through the spooky deserted fairground, with Little Fink making spooky 'oooooooooooooo' noises all the way through. Mr Fink and Little Fink walked all the way to the end of the slippy wooden pier while Nanny and I waited on the not so frosty part! Then we went off for fish and chips and a wander back to the cars to collect the metal detectors. Asterix had a trip. Silver Surfer drank her complimentary cup of tea and Nanny and I went detecting. Nanny found 2 X £1 coins, 2 x 20p and a couple of 5p's. I found a pound and 2 x 5p! Little Fink spent a couple of happy hours playing in the sand with a spade she found. Bliss!

At 5pm we headed back to the cars, drank tea and ate mince pies and then set off for home.

The frost was starting to get heavy and by the time we got home, the air temperature was registering, "Flippin Freezing".

We all had a smashing time and felt it was well worth the 2 hour drive to spend some time in the fresh seaside air.

Hasta Manana

View out to sea from The Stupa at Benalmadena

see this link for further details

Marsha, Astral-Asterix, Silver Surfer, Little Fink (weird floating witch child) and Mr Fink (Mrs Fink safely behind the camera).

Our Spanish holiday was perfect (apart from Mr Fink's food poisoning). We started out on Saturday morning with some local 'colour'. A local Finkleton resident had had too much sun and decided this was the day to stand on the roof of the garages and shout at policemen. They shut the road and fire engines, ambulances and local chavs got a good morning's entertainment. Marsha arrived with her tiger skin luggage and we broke through the cordon and headed for the airport. As we wandered through the airport, Marsha's dad, Bambi - who had dropped us off, sent a message "Got lost on way out, went up a one way road at the airport". We were stopped at baggage check in by the attendant who asked if we had permission to take Marsha out of the country? Luckily we had thought this might happen and produced a signed note to say we did have permission - I thanked the guy for checking - very reassuring. The flight passed uneventfully, Mr Fink and I busily boning up on our Spanish language, the girls listening to music and complaining about poppy ears.

We arrived in good spirits and Grandad Silver Surfer picked us up from Malaga airport (next to the San Miguel factory, you can't miss it!)

Sunday The Fink clan headed for the beach, had a quick dip and then were summoned up to The Drunken Sailor for a sumptuous English Sunday Dinner, served by Rose and Dave. We met some lovely friends, Terry and Lou, Maureen and George and a host of others - mostly Cockneys! After dinner we explored the beautiful Marina at Benalmadena (pronounced Benal-madn-a, only tourists call it Benal-ma-deena apparently). In the evening we put the girls to bed and had a game of poker - we decided the winner at the end of the week would collect the pot.

Monday we headed for the beach again. I showed Marsha how to snorkel and we headed off, saw sea-cucumbers, black spiny sea-urchins, hermit crabs galore, sea bream, sea bass, little fish and jelly fish (I got stung on the leg by a little one!). Unfortunately I spent a little too long in the water and burned my back. (typical, I'd been nagging the kids and Mr Fink all day to be careful in the sun - Grandad burned his tum too).

Tuesday we took the girls to the SeaLife centre, Little Fink had got info that her Blue Peter badge would get her into the centre free. Bravely I pushed Mr Fink to the front of the queue and waited for him to explain that in his pidgin Spanish.. He did very well. In the afternoon we went for dinner and i had my dream meal - we had 2 enormous plates of seafood and fish, langoustines, clams, mussels, huge prawns, fried baby squid (the girls were eating them like sweets!) calamari all delicious and fresh, with garlic sauce and salad. Hmmmm my favourite.

Wednesday we went to Mijas up in the mountains and were entertained by flamenco dancers in the town square, explored the bull ring, walked around the town and saw beautiful vistas, we had Spanish tapas at a little cafe. All was lovely. The famous Mijas donkey taxis were around but to our English animal-loving eyes, they didn't seem very happy.

Thursday we called on Terry and Lou to borrow their pool as Nanny and Grandad's pool had not been safety checked by the council and was closed. The pool was lovely, the grass green and sumptuous. The girls really enjoyed themselves, playing dolphin and dolphin trainer for hours. There were only 3 other people around so we pretty much had it to ourselves. At dinner that night, Grandad cooked a lovely paella, delicious. We had word from Marsha's parents, The Glums via text message that they were at the Ritz enjoying dinner!

Friday we went to Aqualand at Torremolinos (if you go, remember to print off £3 off vouchers before you go or get them from shops before you go) it was terrific. It is a theme park with rides but everything is water related and done in your swimming cozzy. Armed with hats and shirts to protect us from the sun (you can tell English people a mile off, they are all bright red and burned to a crisp) we went on the rides. I ventured on the black hole (a tube ride in the pitch black, 2 to a dinghy!) with Marsha and ended up upside down with grazed knees in the pool at the end! The others went on all manner of things, 80ft vertical drops (Mr Fink) twister slides (Little Fink, Marsha) and we all went on the Crazy Lanes, 4 lanes of slide, into a deep pool at the end, it looked quite high but otherwise not too scary. How wrong could I be? We sat down, I crossed my feet and my arms across my chest and set off. I went like a rocket on the film of water under me. I hit the pool at the bottom at a hundred miles an hour. The leg of my swimming costume usually residing in the crook of my leg had migrated 12 inches and was firmly buried under my armpit. i was not wearing a thong which was splitting me in half. this wasn't the worst part - the delicate among you should look away now. I realised the I had hit the water so fast that it had defied gravity and entered places water should never go with out medical supervision. Gravity was now reclaiming it's hold and I needed a toilet fast! we renamed the ride, The Double Enema.

Saturday Mr Fink was unwell so I took the girls with Nanny and Grandad to the Marina for some present shopping, a go on the bungees and a last meal at The Drunken Sailor, we were serenaded by Reuben and his Spanish guitar at the table and everything was lovely.

We packed our things, paid Grandad his poker winnings and headed back to the airport and home to a chilly night and a rainy rest of the week. Spain never seemed so far away. A beautiful place, full of kind and patient people, gorgeous scenery and terrific food and culture. We can't wait to return. Thank you Nanny and Grandad xxx

Off we go again

Big sloppy kisses to all, we're off on our hols. 

Mr Fink, Little Fink, Marsha and I are all off to Benalmadena, Costa Del Sol, Espana to visit the in-laws (how cool is that, my mother and father in law live in Spain and play a mean game of Texas Hold 'Em!).

Little Fink arrived back from Cub Camp last night - they had a GPS tacker in one of the convoy vehicles so the parents were able to track the young people home - brilliant, see Scouts can be geeks too! more tales of cub camp on our return.

Last night was a frenzy of washing as 150 families chucked their childrens' muddy kit in the washer and open up the take away boxes, we had fish and chips.

I got most of it dry and only threw away one T-shirt and 1 pair of socks, which even after soaking in hot Vanish and nitric acid failed to come clean and were put in a biohazard sack and left out for the decontamination team to deal with.

I'm still washing, we leave for the airport in 4 hours so I better get on.

Yesterday Mr Fink was trying to renew the tax on his car when, horrors, he realised his MOT ran out in March - eek. So he has gone to try and get an MOT so that he can get the tax. Fingers crossed. We came to an agreement that I would let go the reins and he would pack Little Fink's stuff with her...as long as I promised not to interfere. It's 4 hours to go, he is down the town buying vest tops and I am getting twitchy as I feel out of control but don't want to poke my nose in. Hey ho, we'll be back on Saturday so xxxxxx till then.

Hasta manana me amigos.

A Bit of a Do.

This weekend, Mr Fink, Little Fink and I travelled to Hastings for a gathering of the clans. Mr Fink's brother was getting married. This brought about another addition to the number of women in the country with the same name as me. There are now 5 Mrs *****'s! 3 of whom stayed in the same Travelodge for the wedding, hence the following confusing phone call from GWTBO - father of the groom. As we were travelling past Battle en route to Hastings, Mr Fink's phone rang, it was Grandad With The Beard On,

"Where are you staying?"

Me (as Mr Fink was driving)"Travelodge, Hastings."

"What name have you booked the room under?"

Me.............................."?", "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count!"

Anyway, it turns out he was only aware of 3 rooms booked under the family name, his room, Woogie & Nancypants' room and Doner (Woogie's brother - he has been given the 'nom de guerre' Doner as they both look rough on a Sunday morning) &AB's room.

"I booked the family room for us." I said.

"Oh, I'm standing in the family room, drinking the coffee!"

Anyway, the rooms were sorted, I asked for some bed linen for Little Fink and a duvet cover and pillow cases for our bed, as they only had white cotton 'protector's on, when the lady arrived she only had linen for Little Fink.

"I was hoping for a duvet cover and pillowcases for the bed."

"You've already got them, we only have the cheap ones here!" Ho hum.

We went off to the wedding, the groom was nervous and the bride stunning. I was fine until the Bride started to say her vows, her voice wobbled with emotion and that was it, all the women in the room were toast! The reception was lovely with children enjoying themselves, lovely food and good company.

I jitterbugged the night away with my father-in-law, GWTBO and a good night was had by all.

The next day we had breakfast and arranged to take the Silver Surfer (Mr Fink's step dad) and Astral (Mr Fink's mum) home with us, so we quickly had a walk along the sea front at Hastings before setting off. We decided to stop off for lunch and went to the Airfield Pub in Hatfield.

The meal was well received and the bill duly arrived. Now I don't know about you gentle reader, but us Finks are plagued (in a good way) with friends who won't take no for an answer! Mr Fink was going to pay for this meal as a parting gift to Astral and SS before they returned to Spain.

SS offered to pay but Mr Fink said,

"It's ok, I'll pay, it's not very expensive." he might as well have said...

"Next time we go out you can pay and we'll go somewhere NICE!" good ole Mr Fink always got at least one of his feet in his mouth!

A wonderful weekend, spent with wonderful family and friends. The stuff of life. Bring it on.

What a wonderful world

Holy good gravy, what a weekend. Wonderful weather, wonderful food, wonderful company (rubbish football result). Since Thursday we were in the company of 4 different families in 2 different location, shared 6 meals, had a water fight, played poker, went for a ramble in the woods, shared photos, had a sleep over, talked til 1 in the morning, had hayfever (poor Ruby).

We enjoyed stories about, cruises, trips to Dubai, learing to dive, Master Glum's accident - now to be known as 'Fang' as a result.

How is it, some people can bore you silly with their tales of places visited and items purchased. But others can recount experiences and tales that make you want to be there and experience those times with those people. I could listen to P&J's adventures all day, they travel to far flung climbs, drive beautiful cars and wear gorgeous jewellery - these are people I would normally stay away from but P&J are such lovely people that I could happily spend hours and hours listening to their adventures. They retell them with enthusiasm and no boastfulness. Lovely people.

We also had a long overdue visit from the Glums, at short notice - they rose to the invitation magnificently and we spent a great evening yarning and reminicing - and some of us played Gran Turismo till the wee small hours.

Sunday evening was given over to The Silver Surfer and Asterix. Poor Silver Surfer was chased round the garden by a territorial Mr Chips - the bunny, it was only when Grandad=Silver surfer, squirted the rabbit with the water pistol, did he stop! We had a lovely tea, then a water fight and after we got dry, a game of poker which Mr Fink won! Hoorah.

I have had a wonderful weekend, with wonderful people. Long may it continue.

Easy does it

Another week over and closer to holidays, sunshine and time with friends and family. For the first time in weeks it has been remarkably quiet. I say quiet - here's some of the 'events' we've lived through these last few days.

Little Fink had a swimming lesson, the other two did not turn up so she had the instructor to herself. He decided she was ready to tackle 'butterfly' stroke, Oh proud mum. Even he gave me the thumbs up at her efforts. What a star she is and a big pat on the back to 'L', her teacher. Top chap.

We heard that Mr Fink's mum (who normally lives in Spain) got the 'all clear' after suffering from jaundice, she had a blockage in her Gall Bladder, hence her pseudonym, 'Asterix, Asterix the Gaul!' The blockage was removed in an efficient and timely manner by the local NHS Trust. Her husband 'The Silver Surfer' had vowed to by a bottle of scotch and down the lot if the news was bad, was spared that and only had a few glasses in celebration instead. Hooray.

We heard the news of a new Fink being born on Friday. Mr Fink's sister's, daughter had a baby boy - doubtless he will be named here in time, but for the moment will be CJ. Congrats to you all.

Cam's (Mr Fink's niece) birthday on Monday.

Little Fink's friend, Loo, was brave and managed a sleep over at our house. The little darlings stayed awake till 11.30 and got up at half past six. But I'm not complaining, they were as good as gold. Well done Loo.

Mr and Mrs Fogg had a BBQ, the first for the season - you get the medal, but I had my shorts on on Saturday, so I (and the people that had to see me) should get a prize too.

Mr Fink has only 2 computers to fix - with 2 pending from Steve the Plumber - don't worry Steve, we charge the same reasonable rates as you do!

I have done the washing, ironing and sewing repairs and am feeling at one with the world.

Aren't family and friends wonderful things?