In memory of Linda

just got back from the worst trip I have ever done. Won't go into details, but people can be so horrible. I didn't sleep at all as I was worrying about the flight back to London. Needless to say it was fine and I headed off to the car park to drive home.

i got a text message from a good friend to say that her Mum had passed away on Tuesday after a long fight with cancer. Words cannot describe the emotions I am feeling at the moment. Linda was such a caring, kind and thoughtful person. She introduced me to roast potatoes cooked in goose fat and always saved some for me after their Sunday lunch. My thoughts are with her husband Robin, son Mark and her daughter Clara. If you need me Clara, just yell!

I got home to find Babs lying in the run. She isn't well. I managed to drip feed her some water which she drank greedily. She is currently in a box and will be spending the night in my bedroom. I think she has egg peritonitis again. To be honest I don't expect her to be with us tomorrow.

When all is said and done, life can be crappy at times. Some days it seems too much to cope with but we all just get on and do it. For all the people out there I care about, You are always in my thoughts. I am sorry if I'm not around at times, but I am grateful to you all for being in my life.


To Linda. C x x x x

Mistetoe and Wine............

Well i’ve had my 2 days off now and its back to work......... In Barcelona at the moment, sunny and 30C, Newcastle tomorrow night, probably not so sunny and -5C. Home by 6pm (i hope) on Thursday and back to the airport again at 6am for stand by duty on Friday! Can’t wait for my days off again. Pretty crappy roster for August to be honest, all work lumped together, but that does mean that my days off are lumped together too! Yippee!

Just had a call from Jason to say that he thinks Babs is broody again! :0( But he thinks she did lay an egg today! Not sure, will have to have a look when i get home on Thursday.

We went to Salisbury yesterday and I found a Lakeland shop!!!!!! Huge mistake going in there. Managed to get some jam jars and lids for the up and coming jamming season. Need to redesign the labels and hopefully i will be able to sell some this year! They went down very well at Christmas last year so we will see.
Lakeland is one of my favourite shops after The Garden Inn, in Stockbridge - you know the kind of shop that sells ‘lovely’ things at massively inflated prices. The sort of place that I would love to own, selling gorgeous craft bits, jams, chutneys and the like, beautifully designed and wrapped in metres of cellophane and raffia! I might even ask my artist friend Clare to design a logo for me. Clare if you are reading this, then have a think for me! You have all summer off ;0)

Walking round Salisbury yesterday, you do notice the types of people that places attract. Andover seems to drag people out, unwashed and screaming, whereas Salisbury had a much more refined air about it. Yes, the shops are a higher standard, couldn’t see a Lidl or Aldi for love nor money, but everyone seemed in less of a rush. The sun was shining so maybe that had an effect, but generally it was a pleasant experience! Definately on my list of Christmas shopping places. There i’ve said it! Christmas is on my mind already. Managed to pick up a few bits in Oil and Vinegar, and it has started the ball rolling.
I have never been one to go out on Christmas eve and blitz the shops, looking for pointless presents, panicking at the thought of the shops closing and me returning empty handed. Oh no, I normally start in earnest in September, picking up nick nacks and stashing them away. This job is fantastic at getting unusual things. It just means lugging them round Europe for a couple of days.

Jason prefers to shop online, but I love going out wrapped up warm and traipsing around every shop. The look of despair on the shop assistants face as Bing Crosby sings ‘White Chritmas’ for the 47th time that morning, the realisation that they have to endure it for another 7 weeks.
(have a confession to make - all this festive writing has made me play my Christmas collection on my lap top)!

Once the shopping is done, i set aside a night to do the wrapping. Last year Jason was away on a trip, so I put the Christmas mix on the ipod, gathered the parcel paper, raffia, baubles, cinnamon sticks, dried oranges, bells, pine cones, miles of magic tape, anything else remotely festive and began the mammoth task. In all honesty, it normally takes me about 8-10 hours to wrap everything, even down to the stamped, coloured-in parcel tags!!! It looks sooooo nice though. People don’t really appreciate the wrapping but to me that adds to the whole magic of Christmas.

Anyway I am all Christmassed (?) out now (that will never happen)!

So long for now

C x x x

i have just got home and managed to post this! No internet connection in the hotel!!!!

Holiday Blues......

7 days in a beautiful villa, no neighbours, just sun, scenery and a lovely pool! We arrived at lunchtime on the 15th after an uneventful flight. Took a couple of wrong turns to get to the villa but made it in one piece. The hire car seemed sluggish, but i thought it was due to it being a smaller engine than my Mini. Then I realised i was driving with the handbrake on!
*embarrassing or what*


We spent a week doing very little, just lazing by the pool and generally recharging our batteries. A couple of trips to the local pottery place to pick up a few bits (mainly to replace the things i broke in the villa) *whoops* and then it was time to pack up and head home again :0(

The airport had obviously opened it doors to every chav in Portugal. Maybe it was day release for them? The queues were unreal, with shell suit clad bodies everywhere, laden with bags of cheap booze and Portuguese goats cheese to take home and probably throw away. With the promise of 'great deals' behind us we headed for the restaurant (what i really mean is canteen). As nearly all the flights were delayed, ours included, the shelves were bare! Except for a lone samosa and a festering chicken roll. After a couple of hours waiting, the flight left Faro and we headed home, mumbling the words 'private jet'. We finally got home at 1.30 on Sunday morning.

We spent all day Sunday, washing clothes and getting ready for work on Monday. I will never have just one day off before work again. The garden has gone beserk with beans, chard, tomatoes and courgettes.
I picked 5 vases of sweetpeas and still left loads to pick later!








I have just got back from a 3 day trip to Stockholm and Milan. I'm soooo tired and am back again tomorrow for another trip. Jason is in Helsinki tonight and home tomorrow lunchtime. We will pass on the motorway and i won't see him again until Saturday :0(

Checked on the hens as soon as i got in, and found an egg from Laverne. That means Shirley and Babs aren't laying! They all seemed fine huddled up together. Definately need more chickens!

I will hopefully have more time to write in Lyon on Friday/Saturday so until then........Bye C x x

Update! Shirley laid an egg today!!! Yay!

One more day!

Day 6 at work today and just one more day until i'm off!!!! The week started well with a 3 day trip to Berlin and Nice. Had a lovely time flying with 2 friends. Lunch in Berlin and shopping and chatting in Nice. Oh the glamour!

Stand by on Monday morning, resulting in a Munich and back with the oldest crew I have ever seen! Kiev and back yesterday (yes former Russia). Far too long a flight for my liking. No one caught smoking, but several mobile phones on! Managed to have a sneaky ciggie behind an old house in the middle of the airfield. Refreshed and relaxed was ready to fly home again. They have given me a Paris and back today, landing at 8.30pm tonight and will find out tomorrows duty tonight, when i get back.

Jase got a double (4 flights) on overtime today (Ker-ching) so got up early with him at 5.15 this morning (i must be mad). Going to pop in Andover to get a few last minute bits for our holiday on Sunday. Really excited now. A week in a private villa, own pool and lots and lots of sun! (Probably jinxed it now, flash floods and monsoon weather).

The girls are fine. Babs still moulting, Laverne laying the odd soft egg and Shirley laying well. Am redesigning the garden at the side of the house to accommodate another eglu or eglucube. Haven't decided which yet. Need to redo the outbuilding roof, paint the outside doors and water proof the utility room brick work before we buy anything chicken related..........well thats what he says! :0)

Bye for now!

Back from Andover now, got some shorts/tshirts in Next, Grow Your Own and Practical Poultry magazines from Smiths, (sad I know). Also went into Waterstones, my favourite shop, for some holiday reading and suntan lotion and nicorette gum from Boots.

Now, before you all start rejoicing at the thought of me giving up, I'm not. Just want to cut down a little. Popped the gum in my mouth, not bad. After 10 mins, I felt good and the craving had gone away. Psychological? Maybe, but it worked. Then the sweating started. Then the hiccups. Then the dizziness. Spat the gum out and lit a ciggie. Felt better. £6 wasted but at least I tried. Off to sit in the garden now and read my mags. (and smoke)!

A couple of hours peace before I have to get ready for work.

July at last, but waterproofs for chickens?

Here we are in sunny (?) July and the weather is still pants! Jason's Sister and her Boyfriend arrived on Friday night after a long drive down from Scotland. It has been pants here. Constant rain but we made the most of it. We visited Stockbridge and a Homes and Gardens fair. I managed to get 2 'bistro' sytle chairs which I have been searching for. The lady at the fair was too busy to get lunch, so I got her a couple of sandwiches and we did a deal on the chairs!!!!!
We went to Romsey Farmers market yesterday and bought some bits and bobs, then came home for a huge roast dinner, crumble and cheese and crackers. A game of scrabble after dinner and then started cooking scones at 11pm for them to take home for Jason's Mum, I must be mad!

They enjoyed the break and it was lovely to see them. Shame they left this morning to drive back again.

Far too much eating and drinking and the obligatory game of Monopoly! Have put on 3 stone in 3 days i think!


The river Test on the way to the fair was really high. The rain hasn't really affected us as such, but the constant down pours are driving me nuts. I like to be outside 'pottering' round the garden picking, weeding and tying in!

The girls have been issued with waders to access their nice, boggy run. Babs had a bath yesterday as her frilly knicker feathers were matted with *cough* fertiliser. She was walking like John Wayne and I thought we had a repeat performance of her egg bound times. She happily sat in the plastic trug, whilst I gave her a shampoo and set. She is looking pretty again now and seems fine. I think her moult is nearly over as the garden is no longer covered in ginger feathers. Fingers crossed for eggs soon.
Laverne and Shirley are popping the eggs out daily, so Chris the Postie was happy when he got a box last week. need to get more chickens I think, as demand is greater than supply. Its good business sense! Well thats the argument I think I'll use!


Off to eat a scone or 4 now................see you all soon. C x x

Its Raining, Its Pouring!

Woke up late yesterday, head like a badger in a tumble dryer. Rushed around like a lunatic, getting ready to drive down to Kingston Lacy House in Dorset, to meet up with the Omlet forum pals.
Luckily Jase drove in the 4x4 as Mortimer the Mini would not have coped with the flash floods and lakes through Salisbury! I've only ever seen rain like it in Thailand (monsoon season).
We arrived late and raced to the entrance as had to pee! £10 later and bladders empty (we had to pay to get into the grounds), we saw a group of soggy people huddled under a nearby tree. After saying hello, the heavens opened and we made a dash for the car. All headed back to Mel's house nearby! It was really nice putting faces to names and wish I could have stayed longer.

Was up at 5am this morning, squeezed into my freshly dry cleaned uniform and headed for work. The flight to Prague was uneventful and i'm sat in my room with peanut butter rolls, a book on chickens and a mug of hot chocolate. What more do I need? Will be in Oslo tomorrow night, just 14 hours (which is enough if you ask me).

A Garden Update

I had my last physio appointment today, no comments about my two-tone arms, and was sent away with exercises to strenghten my back muscles. Popped to the market in Andover on my way home and bought some bits and pieces. When I got back to the car park, a beaten up old transit van was parked next to me. The passenger smoking a dubiously long, hand rolled cigarette! The side door opened and 8 'New Age Summer Solstice supporters' (or hippies for the un-pc) fell out, followed by several empty beer cans and bottles!!! They were trying to scrape 60p together to pay for the car park. Bless 'em! I still had time left on my ticket, so I gave it to them, to which I received thanks and eternal peace!

Got home to find Jase in hyper-mode, hoovering the whole house. The spiders webs were everywhere and having a spider phobia, he probably wasn't the best person to do it! Needless to say the hoover bag ended up in the bin. Not too sure how many spiders he hoovered up!

Its been raining on and off for a few days but the garden is loving it! The beans are getting really tall and i have picked 4 bunches of sweetpeas already!









Still lots more to plant though (sorry, turn your head sideways)!!













Some of the rocket I planted had gone to seed, but the girls tucked in!


We visited Annie & Jonnie the other day, to visit their new ex-battery hens! They were pretty well feathered and all had fantastic character! Jase suggested we get an eglu cube! *faints in shock*

We have a long stretch of garden along the side of the house, on a bank with a few 'wild' shrubs. It is a bit of a wasted area, so we are thinking of levelling it and putting the cube and a greenhouse (yay)! there........just need to find someone to do it!

Poor Babs is sooo scruffy due to her moult, she looks a bit like a fluffy umbrella at the moment! Still no eggs from her, but she is well in herself and thats the main thing. If (when) we get more hens the pressure will be off the other girls and I might be able to sell some!

Just sorting out winter, (yes Winter!) leave for work, trying to organise time off for the summer too and Jase has booked the Eden Project in Cornwall!!!!! I have wanted to go there for years. 13th August for 2 days staying in a nearby hotel. Only a couple more weeks until we go to Portugal for a week. Our first proper holiday together. Hope we don't kill each other!!!!!!

Home again, but not for long!

Just back from a 3 day Duesseldorf/Vienna trip! Quite nice, just chilled out and read my new book c/o AnnieP!
Jase is away for 3 days now but we managed to see eachother briefly!

I got home at 11.30 this morning and went straight out (in the rain) to see the girls. Babs is looking really tatty, and has lost more feathers! They are everywhere but I can see new ones growing through already. Laverne and Shirley have been laying well, such a shame we can't eat Laverne's eggs for another few days (due to the antibiotics).

The sweetpeas and beans are huge, amazing what the rain has done for them. The rest is coming along nicely! Will post pics next week on my part time week.

They have given me a Moscow and back tomorrow! BOOOOOOOOO! I check in at 07.40 and finish at 19.15!!!!!! At least I am off for a week after that. 200 miserable russians, drinking their own vodka and trying to have a sneaky fag in the toilets! I can't wait.

Off to tuck the girls in bed now and then a M & S blueberry and blackberry fruity dessert with a cuppa!
*less than 1% fat, other desserts are available*

Night All!

What a Week!

Been really worried about the two girls this week. The tablets are huge, so we decided to grind them down and sprinkle the 'dust' into their pellet mash. They now get 2 bowls a day instead of just one in the evening! They seem to be enjoying the extras! We have to separate Shirley so she doesn't get the antibiotics. She gets her own bowl. Spoilt chickens. They are both doing really well and BIG NEWS, Laverne has laid TWO proper eggs, even though the vet said she would probably never lay again and Babs is back to her old self again :0)

On Tuesday night we decided to have a chinese as it was easy and it had been a long day. About 8pm Jase said he felt really bloated and sick. By 9pm he was lying in the lounge, really in pain. I called NHS direct and they advised me to call an ambulance! I rallied the neighbours round to wait at the bottom of the lane, as we are quite remote here. The paramedics eventually turned up and we were whisked away to hospital.

After several jabs of morphine he felt so much better and the Doctor advised that he has damaged his stomach lining with the new tablets he has to take. He was discharged and we got a taxi home about 1.30 in the morning. The taxi driver thought he was Jensen Button and i'm sure he fell asleep a couple of times! We made it home in one piece.

I was so worried about him. He never takes tablets for a headache so I knew this was bad! I really felt for him.

On a positive note, we ate the first lettuce, well first anything, from the veg garden today!!! :0)


I never thought lettuce could taste so good!











I had another physio appointment today. She commented on my 2 tone arms! Cheeky mare. Apparently I have a lot of tension in my neck. 'Are you suffering any stress at the moment'?? Err yes, You could say that! I left feeling better. Think the almond oil massage helped.
A difficult week but we are getting there slowly. 'Life is a jobby sandwich' as someone once said!

Poorly Chicken

I took Laverne and Babs to the avian vet today. Laverne has been laying her soft eggs for a while now and Babs was just not herself. He examined Babs and diagnosed egg peritonitis. He used a huge needle and syringe and extracted nearly 300ml of yellow gunk from her abdomen. The poor girl! It is a life threatening condition and she is really not a well hen. She has antibiotics to take for 10 days so fingers crossed she will be ok. She is looking really sorry for herself and took herself off to bed at 5pm. I am hoping that she will be perkier tomorrow.

Laverne has a possible cyst which he drained, but thinks it is unlikely she will ever lay again :o(
They are pets so the egg thing isn't so important, I just hope she will be okay too!

Shirley is as funny as ever, eating, dust bathing and laying like a trooper!!

Feeling really down today as life seems to be getting on top of me.
Tomorrow will be better.