Mud, butterflies and festive times

Well then, here I am back from a brilliant festival weekend!  Loads of great music to listen to including the Levellers, Public Image Limited, Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs, Inspiral Carpets (should be renamed Totally Uninspiring Carpets)............and many others.  The group of friends (old and new) that we were camping with formed a circular commune with our tents which added to the social atmosphere of our four days under canvas.  Once again there were many totally off the wall costumes to be seen around the site, hair colours that I am not sure would have washed out in time for folk to return to work this week and people wearing clothes that would be frowned upon if spotted in their local shopping centre.  I found a great pair of festival trousers in bright stripes with frilled trim around the knees..............think of an old fashioned bathing suit and you have the idea.

Despite forecasts earlier last week that predicted rain all weekend, fortunately we only had to endure this at the start, but oh Lordy, Lordy what a wet time that was.  From around 8pm the rain started and carried on until mid-morning the following day.  This was joined overnight by winds gusting so strong that I was expecting to be propelled, tent and all, into a whirlwind just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz (regular readers will know that I actually want to be Dorothy and get to make the bad witch melt).  As a result, the site was very muddy for 36 hours, rather like wading through treacle, but it eventually solidified a bit and was easier underfoot.  Despite the weekend being great it was wonderful to arrive home and step under a hot shower and wash off the ingrained dirt that had accumulated about my person.  I emerged some time later smelling of lemons and fruity shampoo.  However the aroma of chemical toilets and cow pats will remain in my nose for some time before my brain switches them off!

I have tried hard this year to grow my usual crop of fruit and veg in the garden but it has mostly been washed out or shrivelled up.  However I was doing okay with the sprouts until the white butterflies came to town.................my three plants are now a mass of stalks without leaves.  All efforts to prevent this have failed – I have cut the buddleia flowers off, swatted the little winged critters and even tried to encourage the cat to come out of retirement and chase them but still they manage to sneak in and feast.  Looks like I will be buying my veg from the supermarket this winter.........I wonder if these butterflies are being sponsored by Waitrose?  Just a thought.

Here we are in the middle of August, the schools have another two weeks before they go back and already I have found a local shop selling tubes of sweets labelled as Christmas Treats.  In the name of all things holy (which of course Christmas is) why on earth do we need to have to be subjected to December products this early in the year?  Christmas cards and calendars for 2013 are already on sale in the nearest large town and as for the capital city...............I was informed by a friend a few weeks ago that there is already a winter scene complete with snowmen on display in one of the prime London tourist areas.  Who will join me in voting for a ban on Christmas products until mid-November?  The Americans get their Christmas merchandise out once Thanksgiving has been and gone – a far better way of doing things.

Earlier this year there was a very bad car accident in town involving several teenagers, some of whom sustained very serious injuries.  The cause has been established as the fault of the driver due to his misguided thinking that it was cool to show off his poor driving skills to his passengers and he has duly been given a custodial sentence and a lengthy driving ban.  There have been some vicious comments made around town and on social networking sites about the driver and whilst I can understand that people wish to express their anger and frustration, they have not spared a thought for the family involved.  The driver’s parents do not deserve to be blamed, they were not behind the wheel that night and they have had to endure months of gossip and finger pointing.  The driver was to blame, he has to live with the knowledge that it was only due to the skills of medics that he did not face manslaughter charges.  Had any of the passengers had their seatbelts on then undoubtedly their injuries would have been less extensive.  Hopefully this will serve as a timely warning to all drivers, young and old, of the necessity to (a) use seatbelts and (b) remember that just because you have passed a driving test does not give you the right to endanger your life or that of others.  I hope this will be the case but sadly I do not think it will.

 

Olympics, roundabouts and clipping

Can you hear that?  The brass band sounding out a happy tune.................the conservatory is finished!!! Declare a national holiday in celebration, issue children with commemorative mugs.......it is done!  Whoopee, only four months to get to this stage, but at last no more visits from the window people and their subbies are needed.

Well then, the Olympics far exceeded expectations right from the opening ceremony through to the final evening.  Team GB restored our faith in sports programmes and brought to the forefront many competitors who until two weeks ago we had never heard of.  Medal after medal was awarded and the whole country was excited to hear our National Anthem being played. Roll on Rio de Janeiro in 2016 where I fully expect a carnival theme to be the order of the day.  Our only flaw was wheeling out Macca yet again with his dodgy hair dye, failure to keep up with the pre-recorded lyrics and generally not really needing to be there.  Have you heard his current accent?  Part Scouse with a strong leaning of upmarket American?  For someone who bangs on about his roots so much (place not hair) he is doing his utmost to not sound like a Liverpudlian.

This weekend I am off to the Beautiful Days music festival, camping out for four nights with nowhere to plug in my straightners.  Last year we had glorious weather, however the forecast for the whole of this week is rain so I imagine wellies will be the order of the day for the entire time.  Not so much Beautiful Days as Muddy Days.  I have some funky new Doc Marten boots in patent red so I can alternate between them and the wellies.  No point really in packing crocs this year or the carpet slippers.

Worringly there appears to be a new trend in this area whereby drivers re-write the Highway Code.  A prime example of this was yesterday afternoon when I approached a roundabout and the oncoming driver failed to give way to the motorist on his left, i.e. me, despite my signalling my intention to turn.  Even worse, he did not even look to his right before carrying on across the painted white circle.  Perhaps he thought it was a decoration rather than a road marking?  Whatever, people need to wise up more to what is not only common sense but in fact a rule of the road.  A much larger local roundabout is in desperate need of weeding as the brick paviors on it have weeds around 12” high growing and forming a small forest.  To complete the look, there is now a buddleia tree in bloom from one of the cracks.  Looks pretty but shouldn’t really be there.

I have managed to get into the garden during lapses in the rain to commence the early pruning of shrubs and trees and have so far managed to make a little headway with the task.  I am now at the stage where I need shears rather than clippers; however the only shears I have access to come with my Dad attached.......... Regular readers will know he has a unique style of operating shears in my garden (think barren wasteland and you will get the idea) so I now have a dilemma.  Do I wait until he is away for a day, nip up the road and borrow them, or do I casually mention that a couple of areas need two inches lopping off?  The risk with this is I am likely to end up with a hedge at ankle height rather than chest level unless I stand guard whilst the chopping is happening.  Actually that is still a problem as I did it last time and when I turned away for literally two seconds...........whoops, the hedge was chopped down lower than agreed and of course had to be levelled.  I fully expect to return from the festival to a more open plan garden as I will have no control over my gardener whilst I am under canvas!  I will of course get my own back by ordering a goat and two sheep to live in my parents back garden.

This week I have been keeping an eye on the weather for the area of Spain I am visiting later in the year.  It is currently 37 degrees with weekend temperatures due to be 40 degrees........oh to have some of that here!  Roll on my trip, even though it will be a few degrees cooler by then it still beats our lousy summer.  Adios amigos.