Guess what? It was blue recycling bin day yesterday and I saw the refuse collecting lorry and valiant team of bin men still emptying bins at 8.30 last night close to home. What is happening? Are they short staffed? Lorries been speed limited? Are they on a go slow or work to rule? How long before they go to 24 hour working? It does seem weird to see bin men collecting in the dark.

It is Swanage Folk Festival weekend. I am unlikely to be online much, if at all, so don't expect journal entries from me for a while.

It's Wednesday again. Bin day. I expect them about 8pm tonight They have got later each week. When they changed the routes we went from a lunch timish collection to an 'after 5.30' collection which slowly slipped to after 6, then 6.30 and last week about 7.30! At some point they will realise the round is too long to manage! or are the men wearing out and getting slower? or is it a ploy by the men to get more crews employed and share the work more? Who knows! All I know is they are a great bunch of guys, always cheerful despite the weather and the other week when I didn't bother putting my bin out (1 small bag of rubbish after me being away and Jen not home a few days) they even ....wait for it....walked up my steep drive to check the bin to see if it needed emptying! This from people who won't empty the bin if it has obvious large a mounts of garden waste, or has things sticking out of the  bin so lid won't close! I was gob smacked! They do care!  

Had a quiet night in with Jen last night. We didn't talk a lot, both lost in memories I think. But we had a tasty veggie dinner. It was a store cupboard special Rice with assorted veg (tinned sweetcorn, frozen peas, fresh carrots, fried onions) all mixed together with a bit of Hoisin sauce for flavour. Filling, tasty, and fairly low calorie. Not sure what to cook tonight but the request from Jen is for 'something cheesey' - sounds like a pasta bake to me I have gluten free pasta, more veg, and perhaps some crispy bacon bits thrown in. Cheese sauce and cheese topping hang the calories! I had a good time with James yesterday, he is good company when he's not engrossed in the TV/PC I think he's popping over again today but I am having a late lunch out with John today. Wetherspoons here we come! We are lucky the Lord Wimborne in Poole is a pretty good 'spoons. Nice staff and good food. It's kept pretty clean and it's always busy. Some 'spoons I will never go back to for a second time. It's all down to the manager and staff how it comes across, and some are real s..t holes. Same menu BUT end product and atmosphere vary so much.

Do you ever watch 'How clean is my house?' or similar 'grime busting' progs? I know my house is a mess and needs Aggie and Kim desperately but I look at homes on their progs and think, mine isn't THAT bad. Well, until yesterday that is. I was cleaning (yes I do clean!) the worktops in the kitchen and I moved the little pot I keep dishcloths, brushes, sponges etc in by the sink. There was an old scouring sponge squashed behind the pot out of sight. It had obviously been kept moist by drips from cloths and odd splashes from the sink and when I picked it up to chuck in the bin I realised it was moving! It was alive with tiny maggots! God knows what they were from but they went out in the garden for the birdies to enjoy and the sponge got boiling water over it then in the  bin. I have now disinfected and washed the pot out and either washed or thrown out the dish cloths and sponges. It was all too easy just to wipe down the worktops quickly and not move the pot on the corner of the sink. It will be more frequently done now.

Have a good Wednesday whatever you are doing. Not long to the weekend! xx

It's amazing what a worry free mind can do to your sleep pattern I don't remember much after my head hit the pillow last night and I only woke once in the night to turn over, and slept til 8, when the soft thud of the front door closing as my daughter left for work woke me up. Even Honey did not stir until I'd been to the bathroom and got dressed, and then I had to call her downstairs to go out in the garden! She moves to my bed while I get dressed, and she loves it so much it's a job to get her off it. She's been out, had her breakfast, and is now comatose on her duvet pile (2 single duvets folded up to give a large soft greyhound bed) next to me at the PC. It's a dog's life? not a bad one in this household warm, comfortable sleeping places all round the house, regular plentiful food, and regular exercise, not to mention on-call cuddles.

It's pub quiz night tonight at the Acorn, and unfortunately, as we won by a margin last time we took part, we will be penalized two points tonight. I hope it's one of our 'bad' nights so we can write it off quickly. It would be a shame to be up there at the top only to lose it because of the -2 handicap. However we might just win by more than 2 points so it is worth trying hard. Do we take it seriously? You bet! but we also enjoy a good laugh and it's a fun night out with people who have become friends, so, although it's good to win, it's the night out with my kids and friends that is more important (even if my kids expect me to pay for dinner! )

I have added a couple of pics of Teddy, Jen's new horse, to the gallery on my main profile page. He's a handsome big boy 16.3/17.0 and should bring her hopefully years of pleasure and hard work.

I am getting to the age when the short term memory is just that - short term! I always compare it to a bookshelf. When you shove in a new bit of info in at one end, something drops off the other end. When you're young, you have a very long shelf with a neat filing system at the other end so nothing gets lost. As you get older the shelf gets shorter and the filing system goes to pot so things land in a heap. Older still and it doesn't take much to 'lose' things off the end that slide away to heavens know where. I am currently under a bit of stress with our folk festival happening next weekend and it's the 'have I done everything I need to do? and have I done it right?' stage... called PANIC!!! Because my memory can't be relied on I write lists (and lose them ) So when I woke up about 3 am last night I had visions of one of our top concert artists arriving on Friday night without being booked into a room anywhere.

I knew I had arranged accommodation for Saturday night but what about Friday? I racked my brains to try and remember if he was travelling down Saturday morning or not. I tossed and turned trying to mentally shuffle people around to find a room for him in my mind. It was well over an hour and half before I managed to drift back off to sleep again and woke at 7 to start worrying all over again I did doze off again and woke about 9 when Honey stirred. The first thing I did was put on the pc and go to Vin's website to check his gigs. He is performing Friday night in Chesterfield and staying there the night, driving down to us Saturday morning! Phew! Panic over! I double checked with John. No changes to accommodation. All was ok As  a result I've felt half dead all day.

I had a long chat on the phone with my sister this morning - we're both on Talk-Talk so get to call each other for free any time Then I got some lunch ready for James and myself. The usual sausages and mash with carrots for James, and I had some pasta with tomatoes and some left over chicken bits and carrots. I cook a big pan of mash and loads of sausages as James takes the extra home in portions to freeze down for later in the week. He is a creature of habit - pub dinner Monday, s & m Tuesday, noodles Weds, McD's Thursday, s & m Friday again, noodles Sat. Sunday is usually lunch with me and McD's for tea, or sometimes it's Burger King. Both McD's and BK are just a short walk over the road from his flat His packed lunch every mid-week day is a ham sandwich with a banana and a packet of s&v crisps. He does eat some fresh fruit, cheese, lettuce and drinks a lot of milk but that is just about his whole diet, not good but he will not try new things willingly. Once in a blue moon if he is dining out he will have scampi and chips. It is not good to have such a limited diet but it does make deciding on a meal for him easy.

I was craving bacon while I walked the dog so my tea/dinner/supper was a couple of grilled rashers plus an egg in a deli roll with a big dollop of ketchup! Heaven! I took the precaution of wearing a 'bib' of a tea towel to cover my cream top - just as well I did cos a big glob of egg yolk and tomato ketchup fell out of the bottom of the roll as I bit into the top end the tea towel got it all and my top is still cream and clean - result! I am off now to watch some TV in my lovely recliner - must make sure I don't doze off though or I'll be waking up in the night again have a good week wherever you are xx

The day has come. My daughter is now a horse owner. She has shared her friend's two horses for years and had a lot of fun with them but an opportunity came her way to give a home to a beautiful big chestnut gelding - Hanoverian or Hanoverian cross. He's 16.3/17 hands. His previous owner bought him as a show jumper and he suffered a leg injury which means he probably will never jump again, but he should make a great hack/dressage horse and is a real looker. At least Jen could show him in in hand classes and just have a lot of fun looking after him and gently exercising him to get him back to some kind of fitness. He's been left out to grass and eaten too much with too little activity so he's unfit and a bit porky, according to Jen... hmm sounds like me His name is Teddy and Jen is now trying to sort out some rugs for him as the ones his previous owner passed on are basically naff and unusable. He is a really handsome boy and I hope Jen doesn't regret taking him on.

I may also be adding to my household. A friend of a friend is into greyhound racing and has a dog currently doing very well with a trainer friend of his. His trainer has dogs retiring at regular intervals and is always looking for homes for his dogs after retirement. I have been tentatively offered a dog called Pete. I know little about him and will need more details - especially to find out if he has been neutered or not as that will be a must for me take him on.  I know Honey will not be happy sharing me initially but I am sure she will enjoy having a play mate and company. I have often wished I'd taken her kennel companion as well as her when we got her, and had two from the start. I think Pete is about 4 or maybe 5 which is good as Honey is now almost 7 and a younger dog will help her stay young. Am I mad to even consider having a second one? maybe Twice the pooh to pick up!