Spring

boing boing boing.

It's the first day of spring today and it's been an absolute cracker. Loads of sun, but still quite cold. We had a frog or toad in our garden. Isn't he lovely?

Brean Down

I don't know why they are called Downs when they are definitely Ups. Taf and I went for a wonderful explore of Brean Down. It was as windy as Wellington. The Down pokes out into the sea and at the end is an abandoned fort. It was never used much in the defense of these shores, but a soldier did manage to blow himself up there.

Fairy Godmother

Years ago I was asked to be godmother to my eldest niece. I'm not in the slightest bit religious, but felt I couldn't say no. I have to say I made a really bad job of it and now I don't have any contact with said niece.
Luckily, I have been given the chance to redeem myself. Gerbera has asked me to be LJs fairy godmother. I feel I can cope a lot more with this. No religious connotations at all, just a fun thing to do. I hope it doesn't make him scared of fairies!

Say 'Cheese'

Taf and I went for a lovely walk in the Mendips, near Cheddar. It's one of the walks we used to do when we lived here before. There was a lot of mud and a fair few hills, but it was a lovely day. We sat in a hollow to eat our lunch and were joined by 3 guests. The weather was amazing although we could see that it was raining in Devon and Wiltshire. We ended up in Cheddar where they make the world's yummiest cheese. We had a bit of a taste, but were too tight to buy any!

Ikea

Now don't get me wrong, this is a great store. It has some lovely products at reasonable prices.
Taf and I had heard horror stories about shopping there, but didn't really believe it. Anyway, we needed a desk, so off we set to Ikea one Sunday morning. Bad move. The off-ramp from the M32 was chocca - all going to Ikea. The car park had a queue to get in. Once in, there is a travellator to take you to the shopping. I'm not joking, half of Bristol had decided to have an Ikea experience. It was a nightmare - wall-to-wall people. The shop is larger than 4 Warehouse Stores combined and it has 2 floors. You have no choice but to follow the allocated path round. If you are mad enough to want to look at something, it is a fight to get to it. When you've decided what you want, you then have to go and find it in the warehouse part of the store. Big problem - we couldn't find the way out. By this time, I'm on the verge of a panic attack, so Taf did what he always does at times of max stress - went for a pee. So I'm left at the top of the travellator, (incoming only) which is spewing forth more of the Bristol population, trying to remember to breathe. After we found our desk in the warehouse (last one, slightly damaged box, but dammit, we are NOT going home empty handed), we joined the queue. By golly, my compatriots know how to queue. Half an hour standing in the line gives you a good chance to look at what everyone else is buying. We were really amazed at the crap people buy - we couldn't even tell what some of it was. Well, we eventually got out intact with our purchase precariously perched on the trolley - can't get down the down travellator - purchase is too wide. So we do battle for the lift. Had to be sneaky and devious, but finally made it.
The moral of the story? Go to Ikea at 8pm on a Monday. Have a list of what you want to purchase. Take sandwiches and an oxygen bottle.
I haven't the heart to tell Taf that I've seen some bookcases there that I really must have...