Numbers

I have had my present car for four years and occasionally I've looked at the mileage counter and thought wouldn't it be good to actually see the counter when all the numbers are the same. An absolutely useless exercise but something that has always appealed to me. I can remember one day when I noticed I had clocked 55,513 as I was travelling somewhere I thought to myself this is my big chance to see all the 5's. It wasn't until later on that day I noticed I had clocked 55,591 and I had forgotten all about the numbers. There have been a couple of other times over the years I have noticed similar clock number positions but each time I failed to see the same numbers line up. To my amazement last Friday as I drove along I looked at my mileage and it read 111,111 at first I thought there was something up with the clock but as I moved on the clock turned onto 111,112 so there you go after all that time it eventually happened and by accident.

The Grapevine

Our grape vine has been fantastic this year it has spread across two fence panels. We have an abundance of grapes though because I left all the fruit on the vine they look more like miniature grapes. They are a lovely burgundy colour and I tasted a few today they are sweet and not at all sour. I will have to decide if we are going to eat them as fruit or squeeze the juice out to make a drink.

The Continuing Story of Alfie

About a week had passed since the family had taken the stray cat.
One evening I received a phone call from a local man who had lost his cat and had read the card in the village shop and as he described his cat I realised it was the stray who had come into our garden. I explained to him that a family had come around a week ago and the cat had appeared so they took him away convinced he was their lost cat. Unfortunately I didn't get a name, address or a phone number though I knew the tiny village where the family lived it was right out in the countryside and in a beautiful location.
The man explained to me that he already had ten cats and that seeing the little black one had landed on his feet he thought he was far better off with his new owners rather than with him. He ended the conversation relatively pleased saying 'Good luck to him at least he ended up in a good home' and reassuring me it wasn't my fault so I had nothing to worry about.
I was somewhat relieved as I had given away someones cat to total strangers but at the end of the day it was a good outcome for all the parties involved. The local chap with ten cats had one less cat and was happy with his cats good fortune and the family now had a cat to replace the one they had lost.

Time To Quit Smoking

Anyone who started smoking from an early age and has smoked for years knows just how addictive the weed is and how consumed you become with the habit. As part of our culture and society for many years smoking has been accepted as a normal part of everyday life.
As an addict you are on a journey and in the early years when you are fit and strong you smoke to your hearts content and there is no way you can imagine it is going to do you any harm. Twenty years later your still puffing away and if you do not stop it will in all likelihood contribute to your downfall.
Smoking tobacco beyond the age of 30 years could reduce your life expectancy by 10 years. It is possibly the commonest cause of drug related deaths and is in some estimates responsible for up to half of all hospital illness.
Though tobacco is not presently classified in the governments misuse of drugs act recent studies indicate that tobacco is in fact possibly as harmful physically and results in psychological and physical dependence on a par with a number of classified substances it is by far the most addictive commonly used drug.
In terms of stopping smoking, breaking the dependence and addiction there are a number of products on the market that claim to be able to help you. The main treatment being nicotine replacement therapy which comes in different forms as patches, gum and inhalers with the intention of rather than smoking you continue to take nicotine as a drug in ever decreasing smaller doses to assist break your addiction.
There are also anti depressants which change your brain’s response to nicotine and makes smoking less pleasurable and therefore reduces craving and there are the alternative therapies including acupuncture, hypnotherapy and easy way.
Evidence suggests that commercially available forms of nicotine replacement therapy, anti depressants and alternative therapies can assist smokers who are motivated to quit. With the huge demand for the various branded drug and alternative therapies to help you stop smoking a world wide multi million pound industry has developed feeding the market of smokers trying to break the habit.
There maybe a flaw in the strategy of using nicotine and other drugs to help relieve people of their addiction to tobacco. The last thing you would give to an alcoholic kicking his habit is alcohol and recent studies have further revealed that heroin addicts being treated with methadone as a heroin replacement are less likely to kick their habit.
It is estimated there are around 1.1 billion smokers on the planet today and it is forecast the numbers will increase over the next 10-20 years to over 1.5 billion. So what is the true worth of nicotine replacement therapy because with an expected increase of 400 million smokers worldwide this would suggest that nicotine might not be as effective as previously thought.
There are always going to be further risks associated with taking drugs to try and relieve withdrawal symptoms as a number of the drugs used in therapy can produce adverse side affects as well as potential benefits.
There has never been a better time to quit what with the smoking ban in public places smoking really does smell anti social. With all the treatments and advice available now is a good time to bring an end to that old disgusting habit and make a healthy change.
The only guaranteed safe method of stopping smoking is to go cold turkey but to get through and maintain it you must want to stop. When you consider that the worst you will feel is equivalent to a common cold then you haven’t got too much worry about have you and afterwards the benefits, well give up and you will see and feel them for yourself.

Home Grown

We have got a great little crop of french beans and they are so tasty. Our tomatoes though stricken with blight are still growing. As they start to glow we pick them and place them on the window ledge to ripen it takes about two days for them to turn bright red. They have a full flavour we have been using them on sandwiches and in cooking. We are also picking and using Rosemary, Oregano and bay leaves in our cooking which are excellent for flavouring meat, fish and vegetable dishes.

The Continuing Story of Alfie

It was Sunday I had left the card at the local shop about the stray black cat. On Tuesday when I got home from work there was a call from a lady who said she had lost a black cat but she wasn't local she lived about 10 miles from us.
I explained that I didn't have the cat and the last time I had saw him was Sunday afternoon. I was not a great help but at least the cat was alive. She said she was coming round anyway to look for him and would see me in about 20 minutes.
Shortly after she arrived with her two children a boy and a girl about 6 or 7 years of age. No sooner had they got out the car and walked up the drive but who should appear the black cat. I was amazed what timing he had I managed to get hold of him and carried him into the house followed by the family.
I held on tightly as they all stared at him and started to call him 'Sooty'
I said 'Is this him is this your missing cat?'
'I think so' said one of the children
'You think so' I said 'He either is or he isn't'
'Yes he's our Sooty' said the little boy and the mother agreed
Then she said 'Lets check his stomach he should have a scar'
So I turned him over and they proceeded to prod around his lower region.
'Can't see the mark but he is Sooty' said the mother and the two children agreed
'Yes he is our Sooty'
They then continued stroking and poking the cat whilst chatting to each other and were finally convinced he was theirs. I must say I was a bit dubious as I thought you would know straight away if it was your cat or not. Before I knew it they were off with him in the car and driving away 'Bye I said I am glad you have found him'
Later that night I thought it must have been their cat after all. I was so pleased he was safe and home with his family as he had looked so distraught when he turned up at the weekend.............................

Grow Your Own

I wonder if this government after being involved in Afghanistan for so long has finally decided 'if they can get away with it then we might as well join the club and do it too' and with a lot less hassle. We won't have all the problems importing and having to outwit customs.

I have regulary come across these crops over the last two years. Maybe we have fallen out with the Afghan Warlords so we have to grow our own though I wouldn't expect it to be as good a crop as what they produce. They have the ideal weather, years of experience and probably the best seed.

Have we finally decided to solve the hard drug problem once and for all by providing enough home grown drugs for the addicts? They will have no need to steal to fund their habit they can get their supply off the NHS. What a wonderful idea no more old ladies being beaten up or murdered for a fix!

I trust the growers and the chemists know what they are doing and can produce a pain killer that kills pain and not a mediocre substitute. Our heads are a bit small compared to those in Afghanistan.

Which Bag

Try visiting one of the large retail stores to buy disposable bags for your new vacuum cleaner which you would assume might be a fairly simple thing to do. Wrong did you remember to make a note of the make and model of your vacuum to bring with you to the shop and did you make a mental picture of the disposable bags so you might recognise them if you saw them again.
Well you should have done because when you see the amount of bags that are on sale and lined up for the different makes and models of vacuums you will not believe your eyes.
So you ask a shop assistant to help ’Excuse me but I am looking for bags for my vacuum do you think you could help me?’
’Do you know the make and model of the vacuum sir?’ he asks
‘Well I know it is a Hoover but I’m not sure which model’ you reply
‘There are an awful lot of Hoover models sir I am sorry but you need to know the model to decide which bag to buy’ he replies
‘Oh well I’ll just have to come back tomorrow then’ you reply feeling slightly cheated surely it is only a bag and can’t be that difficult to find.
So before you go you decide you might be able to find those bags after all. You scan through the lines of bags reading the make and model numbers in the hope you might recognise yours.
Suddenly you think you have found it the Hoover Super 5 - 2035. Yes I’m pretty sure it is this one then you start to look closer to see if you recognise the bag but you can’t see it clearly because of the wrapping. You begin to have your doubts I’m not sure it is this one after all that does not actually look like my bag.
So you move on maybe it’s this one the Hoover Super 5 - 2036? No I don’t think so or what about this one the Hoover Super 5 - 2059 that looks familiar but again you can’t be sure. You continue to look then at last you think you have found it. You can see it is exactly the same bag as the one you threw away yesterday there is no doubt this is the one. You head towards the counter really pleased with yourself that you persevered and have found it and you won’t have to come back tomorrow. Just as you are getting your money out you notice the bags are not for Hoover after all they are for another make.
Totally deflated you slowly stagger back and begin looking again at all the different bags. Doubts start to infect your mind thoughts that suggest you are wasting your time you have already been in the shop for thirty minutes. You decide it’s better to play safe give up and go home and come back tomorrow with the model number.

Alfie our cat

Alfie was the name we gave to a stray cat that appeared in our back garden three years ago he turned up one Sunday afternoon making such a fuss he looked thin and haggard and was very weary of us but was persistent in his efforts to attract our attention.
Our own cat that we had for over twelve years had died six months earlier and we had decided we didn't want to get another one because of all the responsibilities involved and the emotional ties we thought we would have a break but this sad starved little creature certainly had other ideas and before we knew it he was eating his way through a bowl of tinned salmon.
He was very nervous always keeping his distance and not responding to our attempts to get near him or lure him into the house, he just didn't want to know but he kept talking and looking at us as he gingerly made his way around the patio and garden.
An hour or so and two bowls of salmon later I decided to write out a post card to put in the window of the local shop to see if anybody was missing a black short haired cat so I walked down to the shop and left my card with the shop assistant.
When I returned twenty minutes later the stray cat had disappeared as quickly as he had appeared he was nowhere to be seen but we were pleased that we had put the card in the shop because we were convinced he was lost due to his stressed state and he might have an owner just as stressed looking for him.........................

Artist

I have been trying to write articles on various subjects for a little while now I am hoping they maybe of interest to magazines and could possibly be published to give me a foothold in the market but to date all my manuscripts have been rejected.

I will continue to write and develope my art then who knows one day I might get something published.

Getting Greener

I have for a number of years been using a glyphosate based herbicide to treat weeds on my property and I must say used at the correct dosage and in suitable weather conditions it is a very effective treatment.

I had an infection of what is commonly called 'Bindweed' when we first moved into the property and it took two years of regular treatment throughout the summer to remove it though I ended up killing off many other plants in the garden during the process. Eventually I discovered the source of the infection was from my neighbours he had it growing in one part of our dividing boundary hedge, he agreed for me to treat and eradicate it.

The last two years we have been free of bindweed and I have planted a number of shrubs which have now established and filled the gaps left from the earlier herbicide treatments.

I have adopted a greener approach in the spring I constructed a simple timber compost bin and this year it has encouraged me to hand weed the garden to collect the weeds to add to the compost bin.

Sunshine is on the way

After all the flooding and consequential shenaniagans that follow such events what all those deprived of their ordinary everyday way of life could do with to help them lift their spirits is a few days or weeks of sunshine as this naturally occuring phenomenon has the power to cheer people.



It appears from the weather forecast for the next couple of weeks that our prayers maybe answered as low pressure is moving on to be replaced by high pressure and with this we could have a period of settled weather with some sunshine.



It has come too late for my tomatoe plants that have suffered from blight resulting in withering shrivelling and rotting stems they have been failing at one a week and are now decomposing in the compost bin.



Have you noticed just how much we keep complaining about the weather it has become the main topic of conversation everywhere I go at least if we get a dry sunny spell people will stop moaning until it gets too hot then they will be on about how it is too hot, I don't know people sometimes you just can't please them.



Spare a thought and say a prayer for the people affected by the floods and what they have gone through and still have to go through and if you haven't been affected then thank god you are the lucky one.