Have a waffle with Carol

[Carol Townsend]

Aw Bill,
I'm not very good at anagrams. What's ROFLMAO?
Bet it's obvious....
Noe
And where's my brother Tone?

[Bill B]

Noe,

Not an anagram - PC abbreviation for "Rolling On Floor Laughing My A** Off"

How did your Leavers Assembly go? Hopefully it was tears of joy for the young lady, going on to deal with a future life, better prepared because of the help and love you and others have shown her.

Bill

P.S. Aren't we about due for chapter three?

[Carol Townsend]

Knew it would be something obvious!
I suppose it's "text speak", something my daughter knows better than conventional English.

Yes Bill the Assembly went very well, and thanks for your kind comment. Gave my girl a hug, she squealed, and everyone was crying as usual, even the school cook.Trust me, there is no tougher breed than school cooks. If you are late in telling her how many children need dinner, or ordering your own dinner, you have to crawl in on your hands and knees waving a white flag. When the S.A.S. need new recruits, they consider school cooks first. (What's the US equivalent? S.W.A.T? S.E.A.L? Steven Seagull-sorry-Seagal; Batman?) If David has trainees under his care, he should send them to a school kitchen, that would separate the men from the boys.
I take sandwiches to work.
So that's it for me for six weeks! School's out all Summer....
Just touching up Chapter Three..
Love
Noe
xx

[Gisela Grell]

Hi Noe,

when I went to school there were no cooks, we had to bring our own food (or buy it in the morning at a bakery). And school ended normally at 1 pm. As I don't have children I don't know how it is now in Germany. But you school cook sounds frightening!
I wish you happy holidays.

Hi Sandra,

sounds like you have a lot of healthy fruit and vegetables to reap. Sounds like a healthy life and a good preparing for the next holidays with tons of Carib and rum

Hi Steph,

good to hear that baby baba is well and does not give you too much trouble. How about a photo????

Hi Bill,

lucky you with the nicest weather. In Germany it was hot yesterday (around 29°C), stormy in the evening and today it looks like the weather does not know what it wants. Warm but cloudy, no wind but feels like storm later... you never know

Sunny summer to all of you

[SandraK]

Gisela
You are absolutely right, I'm living healthily in the hope that all the goodness now will stand me in good stead for the battering my body will undergo when we go back to Tobago in February. Have just picked leaves for lunch - girls coming round - some huge crevettes marinading in lime juice and chilli flakes, that will do I feel . Only problem, as I thought, weather today is cloudy and hot and so oppressive, we need a storm.


Noe
I know Wednesday must have been so difficult, as we all know allowing children to fly the nest is one big hurdle does not matter whether they are disabled, they have to go. Had to go to a funeral on the same day - our friends grandchild - 14 weeks old ,doesn't get much worse than that . Thought about you during the service, remember you and the team have done a wonderful job. Have been loth to mention this as baby Baba has been a recurring subject and the last thing I wish to do is upset his parents. Sorry if I have but just needed to unburden to someone and you were the obvious person. Off for another cry.

[Gisela Grell]

Dear Sandra,

there is nothing to say if you loose a 14 week old baby. 9 month carried save in his mothers belly and wishfully expected. Then taken after a short while to leave the parents drenched in tears.
Live is not fair and I wish the parents of that poor baby alle the strength they need.

I send you a big hug

[Carol Townsend]

Gisela,
What a lovely message for Sandra from someone who has English as a second language. I doubt whether a native English-speaker could have expressed it any better than you have.

Sandra,
It's good to share sometimes.
The death of a child is the worst there is. I have no experience of this in my personal life, but in the seven years that I've been working with disabled children we have lost ten from my school; sometimes it's expected, sometimes not, and it always affects everyone very deeply.
Take care,
Love and best wishes
Noe

[Brian Taylor]

was just planning to read more of what I missed out on, but "baby baba" just woke up with a greedy face and is eating away his hands now, that means trouble (he is an eater like the "big baba" so you can imagine)...maybe next time...
don't go for dressing gowns for the boy. haha!
steph

[SandraK]

Gisela
Thank you so much for your lovely post - I really do appreciate it. Lunch has been a bit of a nightmare, but we all knew it would be - too many tears, too many tissues - only good thing was the food. Can't do much but I can always cook no matter what. My way of making things better I suppose. Which of course it doesn't. Once again,thank you - and I did feel that hug !

[Carol Townsend]

By the way,
Back to our fearsome school cook for a moment; she cooks food for the Summer fair, and pickles onions, makes preserves and knits cuddly toys to sell to raise funds for the school. Bless her!
Bill and Sandra,
I'm getting ready to launch Chapter Three, but will someone please tell me why on earth am I doing it? I certainly don't intent to publish! I need my head read; fiction is darn hard work!
See ya!
Noe

[SandraK]

Carol
My Auntie Ida was a school cook - the most fearsome woman known. Apologies to Gran who was even more scarey ! My aunt turned up at my graduation looking like a bag lady having brought as many pasties as she could carry, ignored me and parents, told anyone who would listen, and believe me she made people listen, I had sold out. . .Looking back now makes me laugh, at the time was sooo humiliating. Needless to say all my friends adored her. Still became a teacher and still miss her, especially her cream horns - do you remember those ?

[GillMathews]

Hi Sandra,
I am so sad to hear about your friends baby grandchild. Its devastating for families trying to cope with these tradgedies. Unfortunately I know exactly how you feel. My closest friends grandchild died during the few minutes of his birth. He was a big baby and got completely stuck after his head had delivered.The next few minutes proved to be too stressfull for him and he was not able to be resuscitated.We were all so eagerly looking foreward to his arrival and then there was nothing but despair.
It happened last October on the day before my birthday which coincidentally I share with the baby's great Grandfather.It was going to be such a happy time. We had to wait a few weeks for post mortum results before we could arrange his funeral which was possibly the most harrowing event I have attended. Christmas was a non event last year.
The family are making progress and the baby has become part of it. He is always mentioned by name and there are many pictures of him with his parents,sisters and grandparents.
As Gisella said sometimes life is most definately not fair.
I have been so proud of the way my friends supported thier daughter and her family throughout this time with loving strength.I hope your friends and thier family will eventually find joy in the memories of those precious few weeks of the baby's life.
Love ( and tears) Gill xx

[Gisela Grell]

Hi Sandra,

as Gill wrote it could be a good way to find joy in the memories. Nothing will bring the baby back but memories will keep it alive somehow. It is a hard time for everyone and if you make the people feel a little bit better with your food, Sandra, you did a lot!

Noe, you don't know why you are writing the next chapter? We all here know! Just to make our days a bit brighter.

[Carol Townsend]

How are you this lovely Monday morning?

It was a funny old day here yesterday.
First of all, got up, and in time-honoured tradition reached for the kettle, my first thoughts in the morning being: "Tea - must- have- tea, brain will not function without tea."
Turned on the tap- cough, splutter, trickle. Oh-oh! We know what that is don't we? Pound to a penny it's a burst water main.
Phoned Thames Water expecting to hear a recorded message.
"'Allo, Leak Line."
"Ah, a Youman Bean! My pressure's low".
"Yer, there's a burst water main, affected a wide area apparently."
"Will the water go off altogether?"
" Dunno. I'm only a plumber, been asked to man the phone. Manic it is. They told me to say it should be fixed by s' ahternoon, but I dunno".
I had visions of the boss marching into the staff canteen, and saying: "You there, go and man the phone will you. Tell 'em the main will be fixed s'ahternoon".
"OK thanks" I said.
"All right? See yer".
He needs some call centre training.
So, three hours later, on the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures in the tropical South East reaching 31c (with the "risk" of showers. Why do the forecasters say "risk", as if showers are dangerous?) the water ran out, and I joined the queues for water at Tesco, who were limiting customers to twelve litres each. As himself was working, and I don't drive, I couldn't carry twelve litres if I wanted to. Two hours later, the water was restored. I'll save the bottled stuff for next time, and there will be a next time...
Next, the telephone stopped working. It has an LED display, which needs a battery, and if that goes flat, the darn phone won't work, and, naturally, we didn't have a spare one.
Then, the light in my son's room stopped working.Tried three different bulbs - nuttin'. Got to find an electrician.
And the iron's given up the ghost. Don't mind that....
See yer..
Noe

[GillMathews]

Hello Noe,
Hope you hav'nt started your "scools out break" as you mean to go on . The gremlins must have decided that it's your turn.
Had a few days off myself last week a and decided on the spur of the moment to decorate my bedroom.The whole house is in chaos now with displaced items in every other room.I am reaching this keyboard at full stretch because the roll of carpet is between me and the desk in the small spare room.It sticks out onto the landing where I keep falling over it .Think I've been watching too many makeover progs aswell.I bought myself a mouse sander (named for the pointy shape I spose? and not for the purpose of sanding mice ) and have renovated an old dark varnished dressing table and matching five drawer chest.They are now resplendent in satin finish duck egg blue in the middle of the dining room.Bedroom; duck egg blue matt emulsion below dado rail,cornflower blue above with woodwork in satin finish cornflower. Had to work Fri and Sat night so yesterday and today I'm pushing to get it finished.It is all going well so far.(probably fall off the ladder or drop the paint now)
Happy trouble shooting I'm off to get the roller primed again.
Gill x x
Ps Was 30c here according to next door's thermometer yesterday. Nice

[Carol Townsend]

Like blue do you Gill? So do I!

What time is it in Illinois? I'm waiting for Bill to emerge from his holiday home in Time-Warp Land as I am almost ready to launch chapter three, not that I'm showing any favouritism you understand...
Got to go now, but might try this evening if no-one else is chained to the machine.
Noe
Boy, it's humid!

[Bill B]

Greetings from Time-Warp Land,

Now that I've checked in we're all expecting to see chapter three shortly.

Bill @3:43 PM

[Carol Townsend]

Greetings Young Bill!
I expect you're in bed now, so I'm sorry I couldn't get back on the machine yesterday. Spent the evening in a limp and lifeless heap waiting for the approaching storm and rain, which came at last, so now we can breathe again.
Now, where did I put Chapter Three?

OK here we go. No funny colours this time- got bored with it! Oh, and it's not just for Bill!!!


Chapter Three, In Which the Bodice Remains Intact.


Of course, if you were shipwrecked on Tobago today, you wouldn’t be marooned for long, in fact you wouldn’t be marooned at all, as the island has a sizeable population, plus some invaders called tourists. If you did happen to be marooned, you would be rescued within minutes and offered a rum punch.

Back to the plot.


The hippies thought the time had come for Cherry to leave Britain and see the world. First she had to obtain a passport, not easy when you have to find someone with the social status of the Archbishop of Canterbury to counter-sign the photo to say you are who you say you are. Cherry was not acquainted with his Grace, so had to contact the Chief Librarian, who told her that her job had been given to one of the waitresses at the restaurant, on the recommendation of the chef. There are many dark, quiet corners in a library.

Passport duly acquired, they all sat down together to discuss where to go next. To keep things simple they decided to begin with Europe, so, back to the mainland, and Kent, after an emotional parting with Semmitone.

In Kent there is a town called Folkestone, and in this town there is one end of a construction known as the Channel Tunnel, linking Britain to the rest of Europe. It is a great feat of both engineering and co-operation between England and France, as it was achieved without the Hundred Years War starting up again. Note that I say “England” and not “Britain” as the Scots and French have always been friends.
Enough of that.

Cherry and the hippies (good name for a band) managed to find their way through the tunnel without getting lost, and embarked on their Grand Tour of Europe. I do not, however intend to describe their time in Europe as there are a myriad of different countries, languages, and cultures,( but they all have MacDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Starbucks, which are the same from New York to Miami to London to Krakow) and we would be here all day.

A year had passed. Cherry’s auburn hair was now long enough to sit on, as was Moonflower’s beard (if it had been behind him that is). It was time to go back to Blighty (now there’s an old –fashioned term) to visit old friends and family, and to rest for a while in familiar surroundings.

Cherry hurried to see her parents in Wafflingham-in-the- Marsh, and they were pleased with the change in her. She was more confident, wiser, and of course, there was the hair. Still no sign of romance, however, which was a disappointment to Cherry’s mother who had been planning the wedding for twenty years.

“You want to find yourself a man Cherry” said her mother. “You won’t find one if you hang around with old hippies all the time.”
“They’re not old on the inside” said Cherry.” And what do I want a man for? I’m happy enough with my friends.”
“You can’t stay with them forever!” said her mother. “You need to find a job, and a man, and settle down.”
“But I’ve done that already. I had a job, I was settled, and now I want to be unsettled. A man would just be an encumbrance”.
Her mother sighed and put the bridal wear catalogue away. Would she ever get to wear that daft hat with the wide brim and pink feathers?

To appease her mother Cherry returned to work at the library, as her replacement had left for South America with the chef, where they intended to open a hotel on the shore of Lake Titicaca, once they had obtained their oxygen cylinder licence. Finding a suitable, ethnic name for the hotel proved to be difficult; “Montezuma’s” for example, could have unfortunate connotations, but that, as they say, is another story.

The weeks passed, and to her dismay Cherry found herself slipping back into her old routine; watching the clock and gazing wistfully at the travel guides on the shelves. Then, one gloomy day as the rain pounded on the library roof, who should burst in but Moonflower? I say “burst” but as the hippies were “persona non grata” in the village, he had to creep in under the disguise of a sou’wester and dark glasses, and wellington boots, which squelched noisily and left puddles everywhere.

“Come on Cherry” he said,” You’ve been stagnating long enough! Come with us, we’re off again!”
“Where to?”
“You choose”.
As he spoke “Robinson Crusoe” fell off the shelf onto a pile of travel guides Cherry had left on the table, sending them cascading in an avalanche onto the floor.
“It’s that poltergeist again!” she laughed. “Always throwing things around.”
“Maybe it’s trying to tell you something”, Moonflower said with a grin.
“But what?” she replied as she picked the travel guides up, with the one titled “Dreaming of the Caribbean?” on the top. She glanced at it and then replaced “Robinson Crusoe” on the shelf.
“Have you heard the gossip?” she continued.” That old reprobate of a chef has gone to Peru or somewhere with the waitress who took over my job. What on Earth made them go there?”
“They suddenly found their spirit of adventure. I hope it works out” said Moonflower.
“Hey why don’t we try South America?” said Cherry.
“You’re on,” replied Moonflower. “Er, can we afford it?”

Cherry thought about the small matter of raising enough money to go to South America when shaving her legs and cutting her toenails in the bath whilst listening to the shipping forecast on the radio.” That would be the name of my first child if I ever have one”, she thought one evening.” Shannon Viking. Or maybe Fitzroy.”

It was while she was observing the pieces of toenail floating around in the shaving foam that the idea came. She was not the first person to have an idea in the bath; she was following in the illustrious footsteps of Archimedes of course .She resisted the impulse to run naked through the streets shouting “Eureka!” however, as she did not want to draw undue attention to herself and it was rather chilly outside, but she did allow herself to splash about a bit.

“We could get jobs working on a cruise ship!” she cried, leaping out of the bath and grabbing her robe.

As she slid gracefully across the floor towards the open door and the stairs she had time to consider many things:-
In the future she must be more calm,
She must remember to close the bathroom door properly,
She must make sure there is no soap on the floor,
Would she be safer with a shower rather than a bath?
Would she be safer living in a bungalow?
She must remember to buy a new bath robe; this one was full of holes.

Luckily her dog was a larger than average St Bernard who liked to lay at the top of the stairs, and so prevented her from falling with no harm done, much to the disappointment of Bernie who dreamed of one day performing a heroic rescue.

The next day Cherry smuggled Moonflower (disguised as a gas engineer) into the library to investigate job vacancies on the internet. There was only one in the “cruise liner” section, and that was for a librarian’s assistant on the “Aztec Queen”, due to sail from Southampton in two months time.

What was Cherry to do? Her heart beat furiously under her bodice as she realised the enormity of the decision she was about to make. There were no jobs available which would be suitable for the hippies. Should she go alone?

The characters in this saga are fictitious. If they resemble any actual person, living or dead, well, hard cheese.
********************************************************************************************

[SandraK]

Noe
For heavens sake Moonflower would definitely have ripped that bodice, obviously besotted with Cherry.

[SandraK]

Son and heir still saving for next odyssey which means he has to work. Was involved in the launch of the iphone,his branch being refurbished was sent to another. Duly arrived to find queue of 50 or so people, at this time store should have been opened an hour before. The problem ? Of course, computer said "No", would not process sales. Felt very proud when he explained people did actually function before Microsoft, all that you needed was a pen. A tale of our times I feel.

Looks like I will be off to Singapore for a while, OH there at the moment and sounds very happy, sorry Carol but he is still my better rather than other half, have to install new kitchen organise cat sitter and generally panic - so, what's new ? Any advice welcome although will ignore it, I'm very good at that. Will I ever grow up.

Gisela and Gill - Sending you both hugs.