Probably The Biggest Charity Booksale in East Anglia

The NSPCC book sale at Holmwood House School near Colchester every October is HUGE
When we used to sell second-hand books at Country Fairs it was one of the places we knew we could go  to pick up plenty of stock without spending too much.
 Now I go just to see whats there and perhaps find a few books.
Here's the queue to get in about 20 minutes before opening time, and it goes round the corner out of sight too.

35,000 books they  say they have for sale!
This picture is from t'internet from last year because I forgot to go up on the stage and take a picture and it's often much more crowded than this picture shows.

And this is the heap of the "few" books I found

When I got home I realised that the Woodsman by Ben Law was just a different looking version to one I read a while back so that will go to the charity shop as will The Behaviour of Moths - which isn't what I thought it was. The Agatha Christie at the top of the pile is a collection of short stories from her early writing that I hadn't come across before.
The most interesting of the lot is the one at the bottom 'Living Back-to-Back' a history of the very cheap housing built to house all the workers for the mills and factories in 19th century cities.

I searched all through the fiction for grey Persephones but not a single one nor any DE Stevenson or Angela Thirkell - sadly.
It was very difficult to limit myself to this lot as it's easy to go crazy and spend a small fortune!

Welcome to more new followers and Thank you for all the comments on the last post. I noticed that no one said if they thought putting knickers on while standing up was a sign of being fit and flexible!! Does that mean you can or you can't??!!

Back Soon
Sue

And Another Week Bites The Dust

Before I start I must say hello to lots of new followers, once it was possible to click on names and find if people had a blog or not but that's one of the things Blogger have changed - very annoying, so if you have a blog please leave a comment with the name of the blog.
And must say thank you for all the comments on the last post. It's certainly true about "Bungalow Legs" as after just 7 months here I now find stairs quite hard work. We haven't completely dismissed the hospital gym as it will certainly be a good idea for later although fitness in the past has always been maintained by working - gardening, wood cutting etc. Back at the smallholding I did half a mile of walking round the field everyday just to let the chickens out and collect the eggs!

Anyway, what have we been up to......................................

Monday - Off to hospital with Colin  for his regular blood test and then an appointment with the Doctor. Platelets have gone up again  *Happy Dance* and the doctor said he could drop several of the tablets he's been taking  since he came out of hospital.

Tuesday - a.m. I went to see a physio to get some more exercises to help hips and back. Very nice young fella wiggled my legs about and said my hips were not too bad and my back fairly flexible, then showed me 3 more exercises to try to improve even more.
I reckon the test is - can you put your knickers on while standing up? 

We had a viewing of the bungalow in the afternoon and our For Sale sign has gone up. We told our lovely neighbour Ann that we were moving so it didn't come as a shock to her but I bet it's surprised some of the other neighbours. It takes about 5 minutes to show people round this small bungalow whereas last year it took at least an hour to show folk around the smallholding.
 Then we took library books back and went for a walk in Broomhill Park behind the library ( From the web : Broomhill Park is a semi-natural woodland park between Sherrington Road and Valley Road in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. In older times it was called Broom Hill. The park contains many fine historic oaks and an abundance of Scots Pines).  If it wasn't for the traffic noise it would feel like a wood in the country.

Wednesday - Out to Leiston to visit our beautiful granddaughter, (and our daughter of course!) now two weeks and one day old.

 We got to see her awake this time and while Col went to visit one of old neighbours, me and A took Florence and the dog for a walk around the park. 

 Feedback from yesterdays viewing " it didn't have a wow factor"! Colin asked me what on earth they meant so I said it would mean completely gutting the kitchen and replacing with glossy doored cupboards and granite worktops and ceramic tiled floor. Replacing the new carpets we had laid for warmth with wood flooring and all the light fittings with new ones. My settee covered with a patchwork throw would have to go and the comfy armchair - it's always leather sofas in modern homes.The pine dresser that isn't really a dresser and the pine chest that the TV stands on would also be changed to something modern and metal and as for the little round table by my chair which is really a homemade sewing box table from the 1930s, that definitely wouldn't be seen in a Wow Factor home! All the doors throughout the place would need new ones as they are old hollow sapele ones. The double glazing is out dated and would have to be replaced, then a conservatory added out the back with big bi-fold doors. The garden would be decked and grass banished and as for the old fashioned flower border - that would have to go.I showed him  THIS which has come on the market in Ipswich (but not in such a Good area as ours she says sniffily!)- just the sort of place I would hate! And certainly not what we could afford to do here before selling. So we shall just have to wait and hope.


Thursday morning and back to the cottage to meet the lady selling it and have another look round. We're just hoping she doesn't suddenly change her mind as she doesn't really want to move but has been widowed now for 6 years and is probably in her late 70s and finding the driving to the village and back for everything is starting to be too much. The cottage is exactly what we want and we would happily move in as soon as the solicitors can sort it but the lady has a lot of things to shift so we don't want to rush her and it will be January before she'll be ready so we will have to be patient.
One problem is that there will be no cooker/oven there as the lady is taking hers with her. There is a perfect place to put a range and I would like to go back to LPG (heating is oil boiler - no natural gas)but we may have to manage with microwave and caravan cooker until we can sort something out. Although somewhere stored in one of the trailers is a double burner camping stove.

Thursday afternoon and another bungalow viewing - the third - third time lucky?

Friday 
No, not third time lucky " too small" ( yes we know that!)

And now it's nearly 5pm and we are just back from the other side of Ipswich after attending my uncle's funeral (my mum's eldest sister's husband) he was 94 and my Auntie is still a fairly fit 92. They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary 2 years ago. That's a long time together. We caught up with two of my cousins "we're running out of Aunts and Uncles" I said "but gaining grandchildren".

We have another viewing tomorrow and there's a Jumble sale round the corner at the Scout Hut. Might pop to a Book sale too and perhaps a car boot - Sound's like the perfect weekend! 

Back after the weekend
Sue

Getting Fit Again After Cancer

As you can imagine 8 months of treatment and then 7 weeks in hospital, most of them feeling pretty rough is not a good way to retain fitness. Colin came out of hospital on September 20th feeling very weak and he spent the first two weeks at home mainly sitting about and sleeping. To begin with even walking round our (very small) garden made his legs ache. Gradually over the last couple of weeks his energy has returned and he feels ready to get fit again.

As advised by  the cancer nurse specialist we asked Macmillan Cancer Care about local gyms that specialize in rehabilitation for cancer patients but found  you still have to pay. Then the lady told us about free sessions run at the hospital which quite frankly sounded so silly  that I think Col is going to stick to walking at least for the time being because he may need some help later building arm muscles.

A car boot sale and then up and down the road  was the first step. Then on the UK Runners and Walkers website you can find out how far you've walked and being in town it's easy just to add a little bit extra each day by taking a different road around the estate. After just 4 days of regular short walks he was able to come with me to Aldi and back, that's just under a mile, not much but a good start.

My fitness levels have also dropped  since moving to town and when I had the awful back and leg pains a few weeks ago I got a bit worried. The doctor told me to refer myself to physio, so I did and they gave me some more exercises for hip movement to add to the ones I already do to help my back. So with these exercises and walking with Colin, I hope by the time we move we'll both be fit again and ready to explore the footpaths round our new home.

Back  at the end of the week
Sue

Long Live Great Bardfield - Review

Thanks to Persephone for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Eileen 'Tirzah' Garwood was born in 1908 and from  1925-8 she went to the Eastbourne School of Art where she was taught wood engraving by Eric Ravilious who she married in 1930.
She began this biography whilst recovering from breast cancer, looking back at her childhood and teenage years and then their life among some of the artists of the time who gravitated away from cities to live in Great Bardfield, and neighbouring Essex villages. Much of the book focuses on the love life of the various couples who seem to fall in and out of love with other members of the group all the time.
Her descriptions of all the people - friends, family, villagers are so good, as are the details of the places she visits with Eric when he is commissioned to paint landscapes or murals. Of Morecombe she writes" We should have to wait a whole week in this sad town that was only meant for visitors in the proper seasons; now it lay like a sluttish prostitute who hadn't yet bothered to get out of bed and paint her face". 
Eric and Tirzah had their first son - John- in 1935 and from that time Tirzah did very little in the way of wood prints or painting as she struggled to look after the children, James arrived in 1939 and Anne in 1941 and to keep house - often in very primitive conditions.
When war broke out Eric became an official war artist and was lost presumed dead while on a plane journey over Iceland in 1942. At the same time she was diagnosed with breast cancer and began an informal biography for her future grandchildren while recovering. The biography finishes in 1943 and the story of the rest of her life is told through letters and memories by her daughter Anne. Tirzah married Henry Swanzy, a BBC producer in 1946 and died when her cancer spread in 1951
The book is illustrated with black and white photos and Tirzah's engravings.

I enjoyed this book although there are so many people mentioned throughout  that I sometimes took a while to work out who was who!

It was only previously published in a limited edition hardback in 2012, so well done to Persephone Books for bringing it to a wider audience.

Back Soonish
Sue

Mushrooms and Apples

Colin decided he felt well enough to walk around a boot sale so we popped along to a regular Sunday one a few miles out of town - It will be our nearest once we move.
Everybody wanted silly prices for the few things I asked about so all I left with was a box of mushrooms for £1. We came back a different way and passed through a village with lots of orchards and bought  a big bag of Cox apples for 50p. Then home for a coffee.

 Mushroom soup anyone?

Thank you for all the comments last time and for the many new followers

If it was a follower competition then I think Sue at Our New Life in the Country won with John at Going Gently second and I rolled in a miserable 3rd. But as it wasn't a competition I'm not bitter!!

Back Soon
Sue

Sunday to Thursday

Thank you for so many comments about our move back to the country. We can't wait.
 I've done the maths several times to check we can afford it and yes ...........just. Things will be pretty tight until we sell the bungalow. Unfortunately there are several properties for sale in Ipswich for much the same price at the moment and if it doesn't sell quickly we will be living on Fresh Air until Col can get his County Council pension in March. (Someone asked if we could rent it out instead of selling but I think the rental income would only be about £650 - £700 a month, then agency fees to come off so not really enough to live on).
I'm looking on it as a challenge to live on a very low budget for the rest of the year, although Christmas may have to be postponed until we sell!


 On Sunday we popped over to visit our new granddaughter, 5 days old - still haven't seen her awake.

 Florence refused to breast feed once they got home so A is expressing. She's determined to try and avoid the high cost of formula milk. She was also planning to use the re-usable nappies but Florence is too tiny for them so it was lucky I found a few more newborn disposables  at a car boot sale.

Monday - Our son reached the grand old age of 35 today. Doesn't seem five minutes since he was Florence's size, although come to think of it he was never as small and grew into the 6 foot something he is now by the time he was 15.
We went down to the beach hut as the weather promised a decent day with an offshore wind, but they were wrong and by 2pm it was really chilly and started to rain. It was very quiet down there, only dog walkers and joggers. Col sat behind our windbreak while I kept inside out of the wind. I've now brought home the things that will get damp over winter

 We treated ourselves to a whippy ice cream - with flake of course - the last of the season before the kiosk closes.
 Over the weekend I sorted through more books and delivered another box full to be collected to go off to Ziffit.com - another £24 worth. Most of my books they don't want and some of the ones they will accept are ones I want to keep so I haven't emptied many boxes so far.

Tuesday - More book sorting, it's getting quite addictive. I found £27 worth and boxed up. That's a total of nearly £80 of income which is handy amount. Will I regret selling some of them later - probably but not many and anyway we really need the cash.

I did 10 minutes more garden clearing but my back started complaining so I soon stopped, I'm just so out of condition.

Wednesday -
Made the Baby Jacob page in my new scrapbook. I didn't look on-line to get ideas, nor did I rush out to buy any more bits and pieces, just used what I had, this is how it ended up

After lunch we had to take our ID and filled in forms into town for our solicitor.


 Thursday - I went with Col to hospital for his regular weekly blood test and Great Joy his platelets are starting to climb, from very, very, very,VERY low to just very, very,very low. Perhaps that's the start of an improvement. He also had to have a monthly lung thing where they give him an antibiotic by inhalation. He hopes they'll stop it soon as it gives him terrible indigestion.
The weather was cold and miserable today so I decided it was time to start making soup for daily lunches. First soup of the Autumn was Leek and Potato as leeks are one of the Aldi cheap vegetables at the moment. We have salad and something for lunch through spring and summer so by soup season I've always forgotten how delicious and warming it is.
After lunch off to the Estate Agents to take ID  and to find out one or two more details about the cottage.

I have the dentists tomorrow for a filling ..............

Back Soon
Sue

Plan C

Plan A June 2015 - December 2015
Sell the smallholding, buy a small bungalow in town, use the caravan to visit all over the country, decide where to buy, perhaps Wales, and rent out bungalow in town.

Plan B January 2016
After diagnoses of Non Hodgkin Lymphoma, live in small bungalow in town until Colin has recovered then use caravan to travel and decide where to live perhaps Wales. Rent out bungalow in town.

Plan C  Suddenly October 2016
Spot lovely home  for sale in Suffolk countryside, abandon idea of ever living in Wales due to ongoing health problems, the wet weather there and arrival of 2 grandchildren. Make a cash  offer on house - which gets accepted. Put small bungalow on market.
All family cheering that we are not going to Wales.


Yes, after just 7 months in town we are heading back out into 'the sticks'.

We hadn't really planned to move again so quickly but when we spotted a house in Mid Suffolk on t'internet that looked really interesting, we went to look and it was just what we wanted. The sort of place we were looking for in Wales but without the rain and the hills!

So we are going to ignore the fact that Colin might have to have donated stem cells and more months of treatment. We shall ignore the fact that buying the house means we wipe out all savings and we'll have hardly anything to live on until we sell this bungalow and Col gets work pension in March 2017. We will ignore the fact that he may only be in remission for a short while and I could be on my own in the middle of nowhere and we will just go for it.
 When it comes to house buying we've always gone with gut feeling (For instance taking 2 small children to live in a caravan while we restored a very old semi-derelict property in 1983 and moving across Suffolk to the completely run down smallholding in 1992)

The cottage is part very old but part more modern it has 4 bedrooms although the small one will be my craft room/office, plenty of room for the Surrey bit of the family to stay. It has a lovely big living room and conservatory, with a dining room and kitchen. There is already a mini orchard of 1 apple, 1 pear and a plum tree + vegetable beds and a greenhouse. It's down a track off a country lane with just 3 other houses and so very quiet. There is a half acre paddock just crying out to be planted up with trees to make a wood. It's 10-15 minutes from a village we know well with a doctor and small shops. 20 minutes from the Asda on the edge of Ipswich  and slightly less to a Tesco outside of  Stowmarket which is the town that has always felt like our home town. We will be closer to Col's sister, Dad and brother. Closer to my sister and not a lot further from our two Suffolk children. Now that I've done so much driving and gained in confidence it doesn't seem to matter that we may be back and forwards to hospital etc.


It's totally mad but very exciting

Here is a small blurry glimpse

Must say welcome to a whole load of new followers all because of John Gray at Going Gently. He was shamelessly begging for followers to get to 1000 when he will die happy - at least I think that was the promise! so I hopped on his bandwagon and begged to get to 400. Trouble is my blog doesn't quite have the same attractions as John's so I'm not expecting the new followers to actually read my drivel!

Back Soon - probably with more new granddaughter photos which is something that you won't see on John's blog unless he has dark secrets from the past that we don't know about!!

Sue

Smaller Happenings

There has been one BIG happening this week - A brand new granddaughter  of course

But there have been small happenings  too....................

 I spotted a Redwing in the garden, had to look in the bird book to check as we never saw them out in the country. Then we saw a skein of geese in a V shape flying over one evening, it's good to catch glimpses of nature in the middle of a housing estate.

The 2 x £5 Amazon vouchers - because of filling in an Ipsos Mori Poll - arrived via email and have been used to buy Col some thick long socks.

I've successfully kitted myself out to be Mother of The Groom in December for less than £70. The navy  dress new from Yours £45, cream jacket looking like new from eBay £7 inc. postage, hat £5 charity shop and a navy clutch bag eBay will be less than £5. I wonder if there is an average spend for mother of the groom and does it make me look mean? I would have spent less if I could!

 Asda had lots of clothes on a sale rail and I found 2 tunic tops reduced to £5 each, that's no more than some charity shops charge and I've been searching all summer without luck.

Had a lovely long letter from one of our Penny Pincher letter group and then a late letter from the person who should have written in September. Plenty to read.

The How To Be A Tudor book by Ruth Goodman has gone back to the library unfinished as has The Past is Myself by Christabel Beilenberg.Not because they're unreadable but because more interesting books have turned up to be read first. New to my pile are Anne Perry - Murder on the Serpentine; Alys Clare - A Rustle of Silk which is the first in a new series of historical crime by a favourite author and another of the British Library Crime Classic reprints - The Methods of Sergeant Cluff by Gil North.
 Perhaps I ought to stop requesting library books for a while.

We've waited all week to hear when my late uncle's funeral will be, but it must be next week. Then we heard that our very elderly friend the ex-game keeper from Knodishall had died. So two funerals coming up.

That's about it, a quiet week apart from the arrival of Florence who finally got the hang of breast feeding and was allowed home on Thursday afternoon. we hope to pop over for another quick cuddle at the weekend.

Just to tease you, there might be some unexpected but interesting house move news next week.......................

Back Soon
Sue

Welcome to the world...............

Florence May...............our first granddaughter.
A teeny weeny 5lb 13oz and all is well

Back in a day or so
Sue

Right, I have the scrapbook, now what?

A few weeks ago I picked up a huge bag of  Craft paper at a car boot sale and among them were lots of 12 x 12 scrapbook papers, a shame to cut them up for card making so I decided that after nearly 50 years I would go back to a hobby that I loved as a child.............cutting out and sticking in.
So all round Ipswich I trailed looking for a 12 x 12 scrapbook .........nothing except a kit with book and a few bits for £14.99...............but only 10 pages in the book, very expensive pages.

So good old eBay to the rescue and spotted Hobbycraft (oh if only we had a Hobbycraft here in Suffolk) had a nice scrapbook  lots of pages for £6.......a much better price.

It's arrived

I think I shall title it " My favourite things"

Shall I start with a Jacob page?

Or shall I start with the cover?

Oh this is exciting. :-)

I'm so easily excited...........




(Apologies for that last post where I accidentally lost about 8 of your comments when I was trying to add a picture of Jacob, got confused and deleted the wrong page. I'm so easily confused............)

Back Soon
Sue
PS More excitement ...........Colin is home again, picked him up at 6pm.

Book Review etc

First the book review...........


I've finished reading Trio by Sue Gee, an author who I hadn't read before so must have come across details of this one on a blog.
 I don't really enjoy sobbing my way through a book so probably ought to have abandoned this after the first few pages as it begins with the traumatic death of a young married woman from  TB.

Set in Northumberland the story starts in late 1936 with Steven Coulter, a young enthusiastic history teacher and his wife living in a remote moorland cottage. He has been caring for his sick wife Margaret and teaching at the boys school  in town but comes home one snowy day to find her dead.
Months later Frank Embleton, head of history at the school reaches through Stevens grief to invite him to a concert given by his sister, Diana, a cellist and two friends - the trio of the title. Frank, Diana, Margot the pianist and Phillip a college trained violinist, have been friends since childhood and have been giving concerts for many years in the local area. Steven has no musical knowledge at all but finds in Margot someone who is also lonely - her mother died when Margot was a child and she has lived with her father in the "Big House" ever since.
They are both shy and from completely different backgrounds but eventually  music brings them together. War is creeping ever nearer and each person in the group also has a back story which affects them now. This part of the book finishes in early 1939.
Then suddenly it's 2015 and the rest of the story is told by Geoff who is Steven and Margot's now elderly son whose  beloved wife Becky has just died. This last part of the book moves back and forward so that the missing 66 years are gradually explained.

Beautifully written account of grief and love, but in a way almost too sad to enjoy.


Thank you for all the comments on the last post.
Do doctors/people really think that overweight people don't know they ought to lose weight? Of course we B***** well do and I have several times since I was 16 and weighed and 9 a half stone and was told I was overweight by "friends" .
Unfortunately knowing  and doing are two different things.

Things then got worse as Colin had to go back into hospital on Friday evening as he started shivering and running a high temperature and low BP. So once again he is on antibiotics.They soon had him on a drip..... saline then platelets and blood. It's not unusual for patients who've had lots of chemo and stem cell transplant to have to go back in but this Cancer thing is just NOT fun.


Just adding in this latest photo of Jacob to cheer me up!

But lost the original post with your comments - Whoops - Sorry




Back soon-ish. Sue

A slow, painful and worrying week

Monday
I've been extremely brave and  had a check over at the dentists. I haven't been since we moved here and actually haven't had a check up since May last year. Horrified to find how much the cost has gone up in 18 months and I have to go back to the hygienist and for a filling too. Terrified!

Col had looked at the forecast and said Monday was the only day good enough to get down to the beach hut so after my morning of fear we hopped in the car and picked up fish and chips in Felixstowe town and took them down to the hut to eat. Had to use the wheelchair for Colin. Wind turned East and got very cold as we came home. 

Tuesday
The auction finished of some items of clothes I sold on eBay - including my dress, jacket and hat from last years wedding. Very pleased with the amount we sold for. Easy to take things to the post office and the Hermes courier collection point is just round the corner at the pharmacy.
Something seems to have aggravated my back, which is always dodgy. Not too bad during the day but laying down at night very painful. Tried all sorts of remedies but very little sleep.

Wednesday
Youngest to have C section next Tuesday as Dot-the-bump hasn't turned round.
Back/hips still awful, pains down legs too.
Finished re-reading Barbara Pym  - Excellent Women - which according to my book-of-books-read I've read before but absolutely no recollection of it at all, so it was an enjoyable read.

Thursday
Col's weekly blood test at the hospital. Oh heck platelets down further, they should be climbing not falling.
So worrying . Still no sleep so read Jill Paton Walsh - The Wyndham Case, have ordered the other 3 in this crime series from the library.
Watching too much TV, as too tired to do anything else.

Friday
Very chilly and grey, you know Autumn is here when the cat stays in and sleeps most of the time.
Colin to hospital to have a bag of platelets. Me to a doctor who told me to lose weight, refer myself to physio and double night time pain killers.
A huge book arrived from Persephone Books after I noticed on their forum that they were offering a copy of any of their October re-prints for people to review. I thought I was probably too late but they've sent me a copy of Long Live Great Bardfield ( which I mentioned on my last post). This autobiography of Tirzah Garwood who died in 1951 was first published in 2012 in a limited edition and now Persephone are bringing it to a wider readership.
The endpapers and bookmark are from a decorative paper design by Tirzah .

 Started reading Trio by Sue Gee, this seems to be a 'dozens of tissues'  tearjerker.


Back when there is something to say
Sue

Coincidences and books........both reviewing and selling

We watch several quizzes on TV and often the same question will pop up  on different programmes within a day or two. If I've remembered the answer then I can look really clever!
The same thing happens with books. A mention of something in one book can lead onto reading of the same thing again very soon after.
 This month Persephone Books are republishing "Long Live Great Bardfield; The autobiography of Tirzah Garwood". The title jumped out at me because Great Bardfield is a village in Essex and we've been there for their Garage Sale Day with our friends who live in the neighbouring village of Finchingfield. Hadn't a clue who Tirzah Garwood was but turns out she was the wife of Eric Ravilious,.............. hadn't a clue who Eric Ravilious was either but apparently he was an artist. Anyway I put the book on my wish list just out of curiosity. Then Dean Street Press sent me a copy of "Bewildering Cares" by Winifred Peck which they are republishing, also this month, and who is the painting on the cover by? Yep, you guessed.......Eric Ravilious.

Weird.


Cover illustration detail from "Village Street" (1936) by Eric Ravilious


I've now read Bewildering Cares and enjoyed it, although not as much as House-Bound or maybe I'm just mis-remembering.
 As the grandaughter of  bishops - on both sides of the family, and daughter of a vicar, Winifred Peck is able to write with some knowledge about the life of a vicars wife in 1940.

It starts with a letter from a old acquaintance asking what she does as the wife of a vicar "and as I am trying to do without a library subscription in Lent", Camilla Lacely tells her husband Arthur "and there are no evening meetings owing to the blessed blackout, I shall write down for her what the life of a parsons wife is like. Just one week to show her everything happens and nothing happens"
Most of the happenings during the week are the effect of the curate's sermon " I wish I'd been there instead of at the Mission" Arthur says when told of the upset Mr Strangs sermon has caused "What did he say?". Camilla casts her mind back and realizes she can remember nothing and must have nodded off!
There are quite a lot of small happenings during  Camilla's week " It's a storm in a teacup of course,but then we live in a teacup".  Two romances, an illness,  a "Quiet Day", a death, anxieties about their son in the RAF ,an inheritance and  of course Camillas attendance on many committees, which, as all the young parishioners have joined the services, are mainly attended by  the same elderly spinsters.
Some of the sentences in this book are a bit long which necessitates going back to read them again but there are many humourous and witty lines. "It was an opening for Mrs Pratt, of course, but she would find an opening in a steel wall anyhow"...............made me smile
And this observation struck a chord with me "As with so many girls who have lived in shops and offices, her values are all wrong. She looks on so many things for show as necessities which seem to me merely luxuries."

Overall a good read  ( Many thanks to Dean Street Press for sending me a copy of this book, books and magazines are the only things I will receive and review on this blog!!) and now I've ordered House-Bound from the library to re-read, thought I had a copy but haven't.


Thank you to someone for the mention on their blog of Ziffit.com. As you know we moved here with well over 1000 books, most of which are still boxed under the bed and we, sorry that should be I, seem to have acquired 30 or 40..... er 50? more in the 6 months since we arrived.

 The time has come the old woman said 

to sell  some books from under the bed.

 Ziffit.com buy books, not all books - they are quite particular on what they want -  and two of mine have been sold to them for just over £6 each! I boxed up 7 books and await a cheque for £23!

Still waiting for the Amazon voucher from the survey thing .......within 2 days the email said. It's now 5 days. Thought it was too easy to be true.
 
Welcome to Mandy, taking followers to 387 and thank you for Halloween comments, what a grumpy lot we all are!!

Back Shortly .............why can we say shortly but not longly?

Sue

October - Season of mists and mellow whats'its............ but not in town

The seasons really do disappear in town. Due to roadworks we came home from hospital last Thursday via a back road that took us out to the edge of Ipswich ( and even further out because there was a diversion and more road works!). It's only when we saw the fields ploughed  and the trees changing colour that we realised it was Autumn already.
So  I made a start clearing the dead stuff from the back garden, we've no colour out there now except for the orange berries on the Pyracantha. I'm cutting down lots of Golden Rod and if we were staying I'd dig it out because it's horrible, in fact the only thing nastier than live Golden rod is dead Golden rod -  all dusty and full of mildew!
 Picked up the newest Aldi leaflet......... full of stuff for Halloween, we haven't lived in town on October the 31st since the American tradition was imported by the shops, will we get trick or treaters in our quiet road? It seems strange now that back in 1975 when I worked on a mobile library van we used to go to a USAF housing complex in a village in West Suffolk and I had to ask the ladies who came to the van why on earth they had pumpkins and witches all over their houses.
So from no All Hallows-eve traditions to shops full of junky rubbish in 40 years. If we do get any ghosts/witches knocking on the door we will be out! Bah Humbug to Halloween!
( Although we did do well selling pumpkins at Fareacre, remember this from 2014)

Back Soon
Sue