No telly, Lille and Fromage

Tragedy has struck: the telly is not working - it says 'no satellite signal' so I suppose the rain has somehow affected the satellite dish on the roof. I shall now have to do normal things like washing, cooking, cleaning the house (especially this) and tidying up. Going to bed early with a book. I am definitely outside my comfort zone with this.

Spent a great day in Lille. Nobody got lost, there were a couple of showers but otherwise the weather was OK. It also conveniently for us happened to be the first day of the sales. Romy and I bought some lovely scarves from Printemps, did a tour of the city on a minibus along with some of our charges, had lunch in the main square, and scouted around to find the best routes from Euralille to the station, so if we went again we could give this information. Lille is a very pretty town, especially the old part, and because it is a very young population, there are lots of bars, restaurants and nice little shops and apparently, a great night life. A good day if rather long - back home at around 8.45pm after leaving at 7.15 in the morning.

Invited Dorothy and Julian around to taste some cheeses and ham purchased in Lille. Dorothy showed me how to put CDs on my computer library and fixed my camera battery charger. We had a very pleasant evening testing some more wine they had brought back from Barcelona.

Madeleine, her New Car, Richmond Park and Barnes

Madeleine rang about half an hour ago when she was due here. It seems that, having been driving around in her new car all day, she stopped to get some milk in Kensington High Street and the car is completely dead and will not start. She has called the garage she bought it from who don't have a clue what the problem can be, and has now called the AA. She is going to keep me posted. It seems that any arrangement she makes with me is totally doomed. Have just had a nice cup of tea in the garden - it is gloriously hot and sunny. Richmond Park would have been good.

Another call from Madeleine. It seems that the battery was badly fitted and not connecting so the AA are fixing it. She says she will be here around 4.30pm.

It is 8.30. Madeleine arrived at 4.30 in her new Peugeot which has an automatic roof which comes down when you press a button, very smart, and great in the summer.We drove to Richmond park, arriving at Pembroke Lodge in the sun. A wedding was going on outside so we had a musical accompaniment to our tea. There is a fantastic view as it is quite high up. We didn't have time to get to the Isabella, but the garden at Pembroke Lodge was very attractively planted. After this we tootled along to the Sun Inn in Barnes, looking at the 2m price tag of an old house they once owned, and had a drink, watching the ducks and geese in the pond for a while before coming back. A successful ending to a day with a bad start.

Leopardskin and Hospital Harrassment

For the day in France, I 'outed' my new bag. It was very handy and capacious if a bit 'bling' so there was no chance of losing it. It attracted comments from some of our oldies - one who said these were available on a market stall, and also a similar shopper bag, locally. I shall have to investigate. I think they might be copies as mine is from Butler and Wilson. Having the purse and bag, all I now need is the shopper bag and perhaps a small suitcase on wheels. I suppose one could see it coming around the carousel at the airport.

I just may be about to have an obsession with leopardskin. I have just missed buying several animal print garments - so feel this is a real danger. I blame Woburn. And Romy, who is keen on animal prints.

Typically, having had a couple of good days, the forecast is dismal for the bank holiday. I suppose I shall just hibernate, though it seems all right today so far.

In the news they are saying that the telephone company who provide pay phones and TV to hospital patients are going around harassing patients in their beds to buy phone cards and various services, though they deny this.

Apparently they are in financial difficulties because they have bitten off more than they can chew, as my grandmother would say, in supplying and installing expensive equipment in all these hospitals and business turning out to be considerably less brisk than they had anticipated. I would have thought that this was wholly foreseeable. Most people have mobiles and will use them, despite the rules (about to be relaxed in hospitals anyway). Others are so ill they just want to sleep and not make or receive calls, or receive visitors, particularly salesman, while possibly in extremis, or at least just feeling dreadful.

The Patients Association is rightly appalled about the whole thing. Having worked in hospitals as both a nurse and an administrator in the past, so am I.

Rant over.

Successful Day in France

Well, waking up at 4.45am really does not suit me. It was a brilliant day, sunshine all day and very warm. Anyway, we took the wheelchairs, everyone had a current passport and we drove down to the shuttle without mishap. I had never been on the shuttle, which is not much bigger than the coach. I have to say it looked rather like a set of giant metal coffins on rails from the outside, and the coach fitted horribly snugly inside, apparently with 2" either side to spare when driving in, so glad I was not driving. Fortunately there were loo facilities.

We came out and drove to Cap Blanc Nez straight away to find the restaurant which was at the top of a hill. Although a little warm because of the sun, and the panoramic nature of the restaurant with glass around and above, the restaurant was a great success. The views were breathtaking - both lovely sea views and views down to a couple of little hamlets with green fields surrounding. The staff were very helpful and people appreciated the pleasant ambiance with nicely laid tables and linen napkins.

There was a choice of seafood, soup or mussels for starters, salmon, skate or steak for the main course, and ice cream, chocolate mousse, apple pie or creme brulee for pudding, with wine or beer or soft drinks, and water on the tables.I started with a plate of whelks, winkles, small brown shrimps and large pink prawns and a very nice home-made mayonnaise with french bread, followed by salmon and vegetables. All very nice and well presented and washed down with white wine and water.Some of the more adventurous started with mussels. Romy declared that the creme brulee was the best she had ever tasted.

We then went off to Cite Europe for the statutory supermarket sweep and then back to the ferry, stopping at the duty free on the way.

Everyone enjoyed the day which was our first experiment taking a group abroad. A lot of people said that having lunch in such a nice restaurant had made the trip memorable, which I think vindicates our choice of having a slow and relaxing lunch first, rather than rushing around spending all day shopping. One or two said they would have been happy just to go to France for lunch. I would have more confidence taking people on a holiday abroad now as everyone coped so well with the day.

I was completely exhausted at the end of the day and had a very early night.

Daisies, Rain and Woburn

Failed to print the Gilbert & George poster because it was in a zip format which you have to pay for. There's always a catch.

Bought a daisy plant in Borough Market. Took it home in a taxi and it smelled quite awful. Like ancient pee. Good thing it is going outside in the garden. I think it is called a marguerite.

It rained for a lot of the day. I worked at home later on various things for the office and got some cash out to pay for lunch in France when we take the coach later in the month. I am terrified of finding the office debit card does not work when we try to pay for lunch there and cannot afford to subsidise this myself, so have taken the precaution of getting cash out to avoid future problems. Otherwise I should not have slept until the ordeal (sorry, outing) was over.

Today, we took a coach up to Woburn Safari Park. Julian came to help with pushing a wheelchair. We had a good start, but the weather started dulling down as we did our first safari tour. The animals were wonderful, especially the Siberian tigers. We then had lunch which was quite substantial, but as the weather by this time had deteriorated further, we hung around in the gift shop and had an extra drink. A few braved the weather and went to look at the smaller animals. Before returning home we did another safari tour. This time the lions were more animated, one playing football and others running around. A monkey was dismantling a windscreen wiper. I think people enjoyed the day despite the inclement weather.

Poor Dorothy was ill in bed, partly it seems caused by having put together my garden furniture and caught another cold.

Cooking and a Theatre Outing

Ocado had sent me some free white sliced 'farmhouse' bread which I had not eaten. I decided to make a bread and butter pudding, but had no dried fruit apart from a few dates - and very little sugar, apart from some hardened Barbados sugar. However, I decided I could make the pudding using a little Barbados sugar, some walnut pieces and some honey as well as the chopped dates. I made it last night and it turned out rather well.

I also cooked some pig's trotters with onions, garlic, pepper, cloves etc for at least two hours. This morning it was lightly jellied and will make a nice stock when strained.

I also cooked 2lb mutton with garlic, mushrooms, parsley, prunes, cinnamon and nutmeg for a long time on top of the cooker, and it has turned out like a kind of tagine, rather nice.

Took a group of people to see Porgy and Bess at the Savoy. The show was quite dated but very lively and with plenty of good dancing and songs. Computacab let us down by not collecting two of the disabled fares. We had to telephone them several times. At first they said they had been waiting at the venue for 6 minutes. The second time they were 'on their way'. The third time the driver was 'in the Strand'. Eventually they turned up three quarters of an hour late.The driver cheerfully admitted it was his fault as he had not bothered to look at his instructions to go to Carting Way. He had no ramp and put the wheelchair into the cab very clumsily. The theatre staff by contrast were very helpful and kept the disabled doors at the back open for us. We shall have to complain to Southwark Council about Computacabs as they have let us down on many occasions. On this occasion they also failed to pick up another wheelchair-bound lady and her helper, dashing her hopes for a rare outing to the theatre. Absolutely disgraceful. Apparently they have a contract with Southwark Council to do this work and are presumably paid large sums of money, but are obviously not fulfilling their side of the bargain.

My son and his wife have arrived back a day early. They are coming around to eat some lamb with quinoa and basmati rice for dinner. Am digging out some wine and candles etc. It is so exciting to have them back again.

Houses and Gardens, Laughing Gravy and TV Again

I forced myself to go to 'Rafta, Rafta' at the National, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a comedy with some serious points, and well acted. Came back over the walkway to the bus stop, lovely views of London and went to bed.

We visited the Geffrye Museum in East London this morning. We had very nice coffee and cakes in the At Home cafe there. The room sets were lovely, particularly the set of 20th century rooms. The gardens were very good indeed, particularly the herb garden. Bought some seeds and a dibber in the shop with some wool fat soap, a wooden door stop and a few other bits and pieces.

We had a quick lunch at the Laughing Gravy and I dashed home to meet the kitchen fitter who will inspect the kitchen work done and the problematic boiler housing cupboard.

Kitchen fitter now here. He agrees about the boiler housing and says it was made too small. He is going to organise another cupboard door and for the housing to be made larger and better fitting. He has arranged for the gas man to come tomorrow, and says someone will silicone around the hob and sink.

Went to an opening near London Bridge which was interesting, my colleague might be interested in one of the paintings and is going to mull it over. When I arrived home again my son had fixed the TV and they had put the rug back in the sitting room.Fabulous, I can now watch television.

A Trip to the Zoo

The celebrity wife swap was a bit of a bore, the only opinion of any interest to me was that Paul Daniels said something about granite worktops being porous, which makes me glad I have old fashioned formica ones, having heard complaints about wooden ones. So far, no complaints from anyone about Corian.

I went to London Zoo with my daughter-in-law. It was incredibly warm and sunny for the time of year and we enjoyed seeing all the animals, particularly the new gorilla house, lots of monkeys and the otters and meerkats. We took plenty of photographs,and I was completely exhausted after an afternoon walking about. After we arrived home my son turned up from work and they had an early dinner with me.

My friend rang late in the evening to say her admission to hospital had been confirmed for the Tuesday after Easter which was four weeks from when she first saw them. We had a long chat about operations, and how weak she might or might not be after the op. I remembered going back to work too soon after a major cholecystectomy, and how painful it was just sitting in a cab, and how tired I got. At that time a friend's husband who was a judge, told me that he had taken three months off work after the same operation, and I had been rather envious.

Two Tates and a Boat

Made good use of my Tate membership card: got a bus to Tate Britain where I saw the Hogarth exhibition, which was excellent, and some more modern bits and pieces such as the Mark
Wallinger exhibit of the Brian Hawes antiwar stuff. This looked somewhat tattier in the gallery than it had looked on the grass outside the Houses of Parliament which seemed to be its more appropriate place in my humble opinion.

A few months ago my ex husband told me how he had approached Mr Hawes to congratulate him as a fellow sympathiser upon his anti-war stance, which caused a look of terror from Mr Hawes who had immediately summoned a policeman. My ex husband does look a bit dishevelled, but he explained to the copper that he had been attempting to convey only good wishes to Mr Hawes. The policeman advised him that Mr Hawes was ' a bit strange, sir' .

After seeing the artwork I had lunch at the Tate and caught the boat over in the sunshine to the Tate Modern, where I saw the Gilbert and George exhibition. This is absolutely huge, and rather a lot to take in, so may visit again.

I remember when at a local Art college we used to have lunch at the Market Cafe which was then sponsored by Gilbert and George, although we did not realise it at the time. It was a greasy spoon kind of establishment with terrific old fashioned English food - you had to arrive early to get fed: around 12pm was the best time. The form seemed to be to go straight into the kitchen and choose which of the roasts or other main courses you required then wait for Phyllis to serve you. This was followed by equally old fashioned puds with custard. I enjoyed many meals at the market cafe, the place was often full of local artists, including G & G . One day a friend of mine insisted on bringing her infant daughter, who unfortunately peed on the upholstered seat of a chair. Phyllis was horrified as it was the chair of either Gilbert or George (can't remember which). We were somewhat persona non grata after that episode.

This and That

Well, the mattress topper arrived today so will leave as advised in a well ventilated room for 12 hours before using. I am looking forward to this.

No wine, dress or electric toothbrush yet.

Took a coachload of seniors to a museum which had been described as having full disabled access. However on arrival this turned out to be some moveable ramps which had difficulty fitting a wheelchair, and there were lots of steep steps in the garden and between the garden and main building, and some inaccessible areas. Having said that, the museum was very interesting and charming, with plenty of information and a pleasant little shop.

After that, we went to lunch at a local theatre and watched a matinee before taking a coach back home. The trip went without major mishap, but I spent most of the next day de-stressing with a large glass of wine or two as there had been several near accidents during the day. We had not been helped by major roadworks narrowing the path to the museum

A friend has been to outpatients today to hear a hospital date for a total hysterectomy for a large ovarian cyst. Naturally she is very worried about this, and we are all worried about her but fortunately she has someone accompanying her to the appointment to help her focus on what is being proposed.

Dangerous Oldies

Took a coachload of seniors to a museum recently. We had ordered coffee and buns at the start of the visit. This was self service, which made for a difficult process with slow moving people trying to clutch a coffee in one hand and a bun in the other (no trays provided) while walking to their tables.

Meanwhile a woman had put her handbag on one of the tables, not noticing the tealights in glass containers placed in the middle of the table. The handles of her bag flopped over on to the tealight and caught fire , which fortunately another senior noticed and extinguished before we had torched the whole place.

Some months earlier we had visited another museum, where one of our seniors had bumped into an insecure exhibit, causing a huge fall, including a vast amount of glass, all over the floor, but fortunately not injuring the senior.

We seem to be a little accident prone.

Where the first museum did score was that they had left folding stools discreetly placed against the walls in groups, so those who became tired on the long walk around could take a short rest. A very good plan which could well be followed by other organisations.