Disney

Christmas includes Cinderella's coach and horse in enormous box,Cinderella Slipper game (Batteries from garage as soon as it opens on Boxing Day), Winnie the Pooh game with bees round Honey Pot. Spouse aka Grandpa reads the Rescuers to small children sitting in bed two minutes after his wake-up cup of tea. Family all sitting around the log-burning stove , four generations , buffet lunch, real coffee, chocolates.
AND THE SOUND OF A RECORDING OF CAROLS FROM KINGS NOT DISNEY AND WILL NEVER BE.....

Duke of Edinburgh's Award

Aged parent has announced her wish to travel to place of abode to supervise its complete Spring Clean in Winter before she takes up residence again after the F---d. I cannot take her on Friday. Don't worry dear I am going on the train. I am only 87. I do not go upstairs. I fall asleep in the car. My rail card will need renewing. It expired in 2001. I have not been on a train since 2001. I will manage . Dont worry dear. I can mind the gap. People are always so kind. I will get lots of help from the porters. The taxi will meet me so I dont have to go over the bridge. The driver will move the train for me so I can get on easily.
She went and they did.

Child is father of the man

The pantry in the Saltshouse Road house of my childhood was the place for Nigella type browsing amongst the shelves. I would take a spoon to Horlicks, Peanut butter and Ovaltine. I would take Twix bars out of the biscuit tin. Once I opened and ate a whole tin of Condensed milk. How would I get rid of the tin without Mother finding out. I know I will throw it behind the garage where the gap next to the wall is just wide enough for the evidence.
I have seen the jar of Peanut Butter in my cupboard, it is going down. It is not me, it is not spouse, it must be aged parent.

Look North

Sixteen years of Tyne Tees BBC TV have endeared us to the personalities we see and hear every day with the local news at 18:00. So when aged parent has a respite break from us with Cheshire Sibling, spouse and I take off for what is now known as a City Break, in Newcastle.

With a Metro Rover one day pass we go to Tynemouth Priory on a glorious day. The first delight is the wonderful Railway station, triumph ofVictorian day trippery. Abbey is closed so a walk to Cullercoates along the beach as recommended by elderly resident is rounded off with a great sandwich at the Queens Hotel, full of the retired of the 'Coast' eating tinned peas and carrots with chips and sloppy mince. Denture heaven.

When we access our hotel room in a dark lift with purple lighting we realise that for the view of the Millenium Bridge, The Baltic and the Sage, literally outside our windows it is worth every penny of the fortune we have to pay for the room , or suite, as it is euphemistically called because it has a sofa and a coffee table and a flat screen TV. I am entranced with the view, the changing colours of the lights on the bridge, the lights period. The Quiet.

So Carol Malia-thank you. We loved it all, the bus drivers, the Q1 and the Q2, the exhibitions, the Blaydon Races, the Get Carter car park, Jesmond Dene, Armstrong Park, Heaton Park, The Old Biscuit Factory, the ferry across from North Shields to South Shields, Fenwicks Sushi Bar, The Shout at the Sage, the glass pavement outside the Laing and the architecture of the University of Northumbria. Never have we had needed a break as much as this. The people of Newcastle were all so helpful and kind and so proud of their city. We feel as if we have been away for Two weeks, which of course we could have been with the price of a two night stay , breakfast extra, at our guinguette.

History repeats itself

Progeny are back in Wincanton Road this weekend staying with Godmother of the best sort. They have been to the Sound of Music, worn gladrags, travelled and giggled, and hit Primark . They send earnest texts about Birkenstocks. Number one daughter has left behind spouse , mother in law and sleepless nights, number two, spouse the naughty step and all things organic. Its so Dr. Johnson, bless him.

Pegs and Jif lemons

Just an experiment to see if I can get the hang of uploading on dial up

Facing up

I thought I might have upset the Street Credibility of my offspring by signing up to Facebook some weeks ago, and then ticking all the wrong dialogue boxes and joining a network in Sheffield when I live in the North Riding. Has this YO14 part of the world got a network. Son in London by the sea has just asked me to be his friend .

Wine Bar

Aged Parent, flooded out, is still on her Royal Progress around the North of England staying with a daughter at a time. Not having ready access to her very own Bank, Building Societies and Post Office, she is having to work very hard and without benefit of Calculator, to keep her paperwork up to date. She eagerly awaits B.... St........s. She knows to a day the date they should be due. She will not phone Calcutta. She has been with them for 60 years.
Today she has walked , with sholley to the local branch of her very own Bank. She asked to see the Manager or the Chief Accountant. I held my breath. She was shown straight in, helped up the steps, and was away for at least 10 minutes as I sat on the leather sofa, chatted to a friend waiting for another aged one, and heard an aged client moan to the teller behind the toughened glass that the service was not what it was.
Aged parent said you would never have known it was a Bank Manager. She had no stockings on, only sandals, and need a Hairdo."Did she do her job, did she do as you asked?" I asked nervously. "Oh! Yes" said Aged Parent.

Memory keepers daughter

A good title for a book is secret to its success in terms of marketing, sometimes. This book, which I was told , is the current favourite of the Richard and Judy book club, has kept me reading to the end because I was trying ,all the way through, to work out where the title came from. It is another Anne Tyler sort of book, you like at the time and then you have forgotten it. A Chinese meal of a book. I prefer my other august or August read 'The sea lady' by Margaret Drabble. I always read her novels because she spent seaside holidays in a house just around the corner from Casa Bridteacher. I like her descriptions of beach and sea, as they are often my beach and sea. Not in this case, I havent worked out where it is set, and nor do I mind , as the story is provoking and irritating, delicious and satisfactory. MEMORABLE

Filey Floods

Last Tuesday spouse and I felt as if we were role playing a Famous Five adventure, as we stopped torrents of water from overwhelming the back door of our jolly house. We lifted the inspection hatch to the drains with a spade and diverted the river Styx or so it seemed. Now we have a new excitement called 'sandbags' lovingly arranged in a Heath Robinson way around the back porch, a contingency plan, a super idea, what a lark.

The misery of other people however is more Waterland than Enid Blyton, and the pictures on the BBC of ordinary but disrupted lives only serve to make me thankful.

Hull Floods

The Hull Daily Mail through its Website have kept Bridteacher well informed of recent events. Thank you to all the folk who have sent in their own photos of the Hull Floods.

Newsagents in this outpost of Gods own county no longer sell the familiar and well loved tabloid. When I was a child, I thought the Daily Mail was the familiar evening paper delivered daily , and wondered why our family got it in the evening when others seemed to get it with their bacon and egg.

Here in the once Roman Signal Station town we do not even get,here in our postcode, the 'Look North ' on BBC 1. Our 6 o'clock news is followed by a regional news with Carol Malia, beloved of husband of Bridteacher. Yes I am at Second Home with the Geordie news and tales of the Sage and the Stadium of light, but miss the real Home news.

Slugs

My French Beans(Barlotta from own seed) have been eaten , as has a complete row of Kale seedlings , no loss , I don't like Kale much. The garden is looking verdant and lush, yes even drunk ,when I look at the angles of some of the stems. HOWEVER we cannot sit out , it has not really stopped raining for 10 days.The greenhouse sits at 60 degrees C, the tomatoes are stalled and only the chickweed doesn't care.
Mother of Bridteacher has been evacuated from Sheltered Posh Flat in Beverley, to Hullteacher because of flooding to the ground floor of House.
A few slugs are nothing in comparison.

Return of the native

Went in to school today for half a day Supply.It was perfect-I got to do that wonderful drive again, the clouds , the fields, the huge puddle now a lake at the new Hunmanby Gap roundabout site for the Reighton By-pass, and the car to myself. I had forgotten how therapeutic a journey alone can be. School was good too. I realised how my life had actually tangented others, as huge year 6 boys welcomed me back . Now as I wash up the dinner things and look out at the garden, where my crop of spinach beckons the pan I realise I dont have to go to work tomorrow. I am still a teacher, I will always be a teacher, I like children, I like the feeling of not having to go anywhere but my garden until next time the phone rings.

The Early Birds

The drive to the 24 hour Supermarket was a breeze this morning . No traffic at all until the outskirts of Scarborough, then a Police Car. Checked the speedometer.No worries a steady 30mph.
I divert to record that on the journey back from nephews December wedding in Sheffield, some speed camera in Howden recorded a massive 36mph on this Bridteacher, who is now careful to the point of tedium for those driving behind me.I just cant lose another 3 points from my licence. As the sole driver in this marriage I am expected to manoeuvre old red Volvo in all the Supermarket carparks in the Riding and Tescos in Westborough is not easy unless you want to be a 10 minute push from the door.
So at 5 this morning I was really enjoying the drive to town, Mayblossom gleaming, Queen Annes Lace frilling and all the lights at green, especially the Hillstart one at Cayton Bay. Straight into a wonderful parking space, I dont think I have ever been so near to the doors.
What a shame on the Tuesday after the Bank Holiday the doors don't open until 8 o'clock.

RT Kendall

Spent Saturday at seminas given by RT Kendall in Scarborough. Good that 'Churches together in Scarborough' had the vision to go ahead with the aptly named 'Springtide'. Spouse and I were very encouraged and challenged by the teaching we received. We certainly don't want to be 'yesterdays man and woman'.Look forward to what will happen next. We are ready.

Bridteacher(retired)

Spouse is recovering from a heart attack . Here are the positive outcomes

1. A great view of the River Humber from the 8th floor of the Hull Royal.
2. Spouse is now eating wisely.
3. We do not feel bad resting after lunch with a dose of Midsummer Murders.
4. Spouse has at last started gardening again seriously-the pond has been emptied and removed, the greenhouse has been disinfected and cleared out, the dandelions are now coming out by the roots instead of a few leaves.We are enjoying time together discussing our opposing views on suitable plants for a garden the size of a Science lab.
5. I have retired.
6. We have a bus pass, and can get as far as Hawes at no cost.
7. We got a reduction at the Stephen Joseph for our tickets for 'The Tempest'.
8. I have found a use for a spreadsheet, the drug regime for Warfarin etc looks really good and impressive and spouse has no need to realise that it was really easy, as it is the formulae that need the expertise.

Relief

I felt as if I had lost something really precious when I switched to the new blog and couldn,t find the old one. The word 'refresh' came to mind and there it was. the miracle of memory. I did my first internet course ten years ago , and this is the first time I have ever used the 'r' word.

Grease

I want to know what to do with a near full pot of Goose Grease. My Pommes de terre a la Lawson were ok, we all felt less full of trans fatty acids than usual on the Birthday of our Lord BUT WAS IT WORTH IT. I feel so guilty now. Use within three weeks. I dont feel it's right to cook roast potatoes every few days just use the stuff up. It gave us all indigestion, and an after taste. We prefer light olive oil or my new favourite, rapeseed oil.
From the depths of my memory I have dragged a picture of my mother putting goose grease on brown parcel paper and then putting the paper down my vest, underneath my Liberty Bodice, something to do with health. I will ask aged parent.