THROUGH THE YEARS. Part 5

These are pictures of my Mum, she was the sweetest kindess person there was in the world.To the best of my knowledge she was loved by everybody, the only people who possibly did'nt love her were other women who were jealous of her popularity with everyone. We all miss her terribly. She was tragically killed in a car driven by someone else on her way back from celebrating the birth of our daughter(Our first child) Pamela ,who was just two days old.Mum was just 38 yrs old in 1965 when she died. and had visited my wife Sue and daughter Pam in hospital only the day before.
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GARDENS , A REMINDER.

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The most common thing that appears on my blog comments is, I cant wait for spring, its so dull and drab in the garden at the moment.So I thought I would do my best to cheer you up,With a few photo's of summers past.( a few have appeared before).The last couple are summer on our camp site in N Devon,where as you can see Mojo is walking in the wood amongst the Bluebells and wild Garlic flowers.

MY GARDEN. IN MARCH.

My garden both back and front.The rear yard is very wet, and still it keeps raining.The front pots/containers were planted very late in(mid/late) November, due to mainly not removing summer flowers that refused to stop blooming.The first two pics are of two old supermarket carrier bag containers,I drilled a few holes in each then planted around fourteen/fifteen small Busy Lizzie(Impatiens) plants in each, this around eight wks later is the result. The next few pics are of my planters and the Daffodils, Narcissi, Hyacinths in them. The bottom rows are of my home made wooden cold frame, in this 90% of my Fuchsias survive the winter. Finally a few of the 30 or so cuttings I took about 14 days ago, they all seem o k. Footnote Dear old bloggers done it again, removed the picture of my home made cold frame, Sorry.

PREPARATION TIME.

Its time for us to start to prepare,
With lots of things that need repair,
Because over the next eight months or so,
To Berryanarbor we will go.

Our little caravan has been all alone,
Around it, all the weeds have grown,
A wash and clean it will surely need,
And our little birds we need to feed.

I remind you all of our friends there,
So settle down in your arm chair,
To start the story of last years plot.
Our friends they are a funny lot.

Firstly you remember Bryan and Bren,
Then there's our mate dear old Ben,
He's the one with the hairy chin,
It covers his face and his big grin.

You remember (Dublin) Chris from next door,
And his wife Hazel to be sure to be sure,
They hail from Cornwall or so they say,
His cowboy hat keeps the sun at bay.

There's Elsie/Bryan in their little green car,
They hail from Tiverton it is'nt very far
A Reliant Robin is his pride and joy,
It bobs along like a Tonka toy.

The Chadwicks car its brand new,
Pete says twelve weeks he had to queue,
But of course he loves to have a moan,
To me most days on the dog and bone.

Peter is a character thats a fact,
At times he lacks a little tact,
His son Dave gets a lot of stick,
But he really is the family brick,

Annette and "Bucket"they are a nice pair,
Of Beer and Wine they like their share,
A bike in the summer he likes to ride,
But only after all the roads have dried.

Weston is the home of Carol and Dell,
Down by the lake they like to dwell,
A little bit of fishing day by day,
Catches a few or so they say.

Carol,well now what a gal she seems,
Looks after Derek, yea in his dreams,
At home in the garden digging up weeds,
Singing and talking to all her seeds.

The family Marshall they'll be there,
Wayne and Pam and their young pair,
I have to admit that she's our daughter,
Be careful there she gives stands her quarter.

Wayne he stands over six feet tall,
And our Pam aint exactly small,
Grandson Tom loves fishing by the lake,
Zoe's a little madam for goodness sake.

I could go on all day long,
Possibly even break into song,
But every good thing must come to an end,
So this verse is the last that i'll send.

THE MANY FACES OF TEIGNMOUTH .

Here in
Teignmouth we enjoy a very mild climate, with lots of rain, our fair share of wind, some very strong. Very rarely any snow and not a lot of frost,maybe ten or a dozen most years. Because the main part of the town is built on the hillside we don't suffer from flooding either,well except a little at the beachside. So here are a few photo's of different types of weather over the year.(not all photo's taken in the same year).The snow ones certainly dont happen often, this 7-8 years ago.

JOKE OF THE DAY 3

CAKE OR BED

A HUSBAND IS AT HOME WATCHING A FOOTBALL GAME WHEN HIS WIFE INTERRUPTS...HONEY, COULD YOU FIX THE LIGHT IN THE HALLWAY?

IT'S BEEN FLICKERING FOR WEEKS NOW. HE LOOKS AT HER AND SAYS ANGRILY

FIX THE LIGHT, NOW? DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE S W E B WORKER PRINTED ON MY FOREHEAD? I DON'T THINK SO!

THE WIFE ASKS, WELL THEN, COULD YOU FIX THE FRIDGE DOOR?

IT WON'T CLOSE RIGHT.TO WHICH HE REPLIED,

FIX THE FRIDGE DOOR? DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE FRIDGEDAIRE ENGINEER WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD? I DON'T THINK SO.

FINE, SHE SAYS THEN YOU COULD AT LEAST FIX THE STEPS TO THE FRONT DOOR? THEY'RE ABOUT TO BREAK.

I'M NOT A DAMN CARPENTER AND I DON'T WANT TO FIX STEPS, HE SAYS. DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE BUILDER/CARPENTER WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD? I DON'T THINK SO.

I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU. I'M GOING TO THE PUB!!! SO HE GOES TO THE PUB AND DRINKS FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS. HE STARTS TO FEEL GUILTY ABOUT HOW HE TREATED HIS WIFE, AND DECIDES TO GO HOME AND HELP OUT.

AS HE WALKS INTO THE HOUSE HE NOTICES THE STEPS ARE ALREADY FIXED.

AS HE ENTERS THE HOUSE, HE SEES THE HALL LIGHT IS WORKING.

AS HE GOES TO GET A BEER, HE NOTICES THE FRIDGE DOOR IS FIXED.

HONEY, HE ASKS, HOW'D ALL THIS GET FIXED? SHE SAID, WELL, WHEN YOU LEFT I SAT OUTSIDE AND CRIED. JUST THEN A NICE YOUNG MAN ASKED ME WHAT WAS WRONG, AND I TOLD HIM.

HE OFFERED TO DO ALL THE REPAIRS, AND ALL I HAD TO DO WAS EITHER GO TO BED WITH HIM OR BAKE A CAKE.

HE SAID, SO WHAT KIND OF CAKE DID YOU BAKE HIM?

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SHE REPLIED, HELLOOOOO.......DO YOU SEE FANNY CRADDOCK WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD? I DON'T THINK SO!

JOKE OF THE DAY 2

so by way of change todays blog is a joke.

THE BIRDS AND BEES (Modern style)



One day a little boy asks his father "Dad where did I come from"? His Dad replies, "well I guess you will have to know sometime"and carries on ,"Your mum and me first got together in a chat room on Yahoo.Then we went on a date via e-mail in a cyber cafe, I then upgraded my floppy to a stiffy and your mum agreed to do a download from my harddrive, when I'd uploaded we realised we had'nt used a Firewall, it was to late to hit a delete button so, 9 months later a pop-up appeared and said You've got male."

MY HOBBY (or one of them Fuchsias)

One of my hobby's is growing Fuchsias.There are so many different types to choose from, so far as we can tell the first fuchsia to be named was a W Indian one (Haiti) around 1704 and was called F.triphylla.The man who named it was a French Monk called Father Charles Plumier, he named it after a German Doctor/Herbalist, Leonhart Fuchs.There are about a hundred species as near as we can tell ,these have been hybridised and are known as Cultivars (cultivated Varieties).It is impossible to say how many of these there are, because new ones are appearing all the time, certainly world wide it would run into thousands.As I said (sorry to be boring) there are about a hundred Species but the only ones we are likely to come across are F.arborescens, F.boliviana. F.denticular. F.fulgens. F.procumbens. and F.splenens,that's the end of the technical bit.Perhaps now we might show the breakdown of a Fuchsia.we have a photo here so you can see the parts we're talking about.Firstly Fuchsias are usually divided up into A. Singles, the Corolla on these has only four petals B. Doubles these have eight petals. C. Semi doubles have five to eight petals. Then we come to a real bone of contention Hardyness, Because obviously the climate varies a lot between area's. I think I will use the general consensus of my books on each individual plant I mention. I'm going to show a few Fuchsias otherwise it will get boring, next Fuchsia blog i do I will mention growing and taking cuttings.If any one cares to comment or E-Mail me please do. Sorry about the diagram folks blogger up to its tricks again. CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE.

IT'S NEARLY TIME.

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Its nearly Caravan time again,all winter we've waited for this with baited breathe March and opening time.Our caravan is an old Swift Challenger about 22ft long, but still very tidy especially inside.We have had it 3yrs now so we have it how we want it. The site we keep it on is in Berrynarbor, Nr Ilfracombe, N Devon.We have been using this site now for about 14-15yrs,first off in a lge frame tent then a Camper Van, then our first caravan a 14 footer finally our current one.We have seen two previous owners,we now have new ones for this season.The previous owners Brian/Mary and their two boys Tom/Mat had the site for around 12yrs so we were as much friends as Customers.I think this will all change with the new people,it is going to be run purely as a business venture according to the new rules we have received. lot of friends we made around the site will not be able to meet some of these rules so,they may well have to move on,this is a real shame as it had a real community feel.We had really great nights both in the bar and on the fishing lake.With Brian/Mary it was able to be flexible as it was a family concern.I think the biggest problem for quite a few is finding the whole years rent upfront,before, you could pay in three parts as long as you paid 7days before that third expired.Also they no longer store vans on site during the summer, which means some of our old residents have to tow lge vans up to 230 miles away after each holiday trip, even though they will probably be back in less than a month, at the moment they do this 5-6 times a year and get charged a weekly storage fee.At least we're keeping both our neighbors, one of these couples Bryan/Brenda are already mentioned in "Come play with me part 1". He can be one of the clowns of the site, only yesterday his wife Brenda phoned me to say,last night bri was watching telly when he nodded off spilling his drink (a full one)into his lap,the beer was icy cold so he shot up in the air knocking over the chair,well he was'nt a happy bunny cursing all the way up stairs to change his trousers, not helped she said by my roaring with laughter.Any way she thought no more about it.In the morning Bryan came down stairs mumbling and moaning saying he'd had an awful nights sleep,why whatever was the matter Brenda said(worrying sbout his heart condition), Bryan replied I hardly slept a wink "have you ever tried sucking 1/2 a pint of beer out of a pair of trousers?.

MY STRATFORD UPON AVON.

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This blog is all about my birth place Stratford upon Avon. Firstly if you have never been,then you should go(especially in the summer) for a day or preferably a week end. There is just so much to see and do all around the area,there is Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shakespeare's birth place,Mary Arden's house,and last but not least The Royal Shakespeare Theatre.The gardens and local area can be really beautiful as can the small villages that surround it.Also around Stratford are beautiful Churches, Granges Almeshouses,Hamlets, Olde world Pubs,Lovely thatched Cottages and gardens. Did You realise that you knew some Shakespeare,no,well what about "Breaking the Ice", "Hotblooded", "All that glitters is not gold", "There's method in his madness" all quotes written by the Bard.My own birthplace is the lovely village of Shottery,this is just a mile from the centre of Stratford.The village is full of character houses including lots of thatched ones.I actually lived 500 yds(Metres) from the world famous Anne Hathaway's Cottage and eventually got fed up with foreign visitors everywhere.Pictures here are,top left/rightAnne Hathaways, Second row left, cottages at the top of Post Office Road. Second row right,thatched terraced cottages in Tavern Lane. Bottom left my School Shottery C of E (right opposite where I lived).Bottom right another view of Anne Hathaways Cottage.

THROUGH THE YEARS. PART 4

Shottery, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1945 to 1979.
From the age of 11 I attended what was then Hugh Clopton High School,this was about 1/2 a mile from our house. Once I started here my education started going down hill,I never really enjoyed schooling there at all.I can't put my finger on quite why,possibly the fact that I was taught by up to 8 different tutors each year, where as i'd only been used to one for 2-3yrs at a time(poss excuses as it was the same for all of us from this school).Anyway I went from an "A" class at 11yrs, to a"C"class at 15yrs.Outside of school I grew up much as most boys do, I had a small group of friends from around the village,we used to play in the fields behind Shottery school which were locally known as the "Brook fields"or "The Brookers" for fairly obvious reasons.The names I remember from back then were(from the village)Roy Brookes,Peter Dale, Eric Payne,Peter Bliss,Robin Bowles,Chris Godman,Mick Drinkwater,Stuart Isson(sadly Peter is no longer with us).When I was 9 ish there was the Queens Coronation, just opposite where I lived(then in Hathaway lane) there were a row of cottages called post office row,these were decorated from one end to the other (8-9 of them) with glued on Coronation banners plus garlands, flags etc,the banners that were glued on were still there until they knocked them down in approx 1962-3. Other friends that I had, moved away when these cottages were knocked down,these included Linda Allum,Stuart,Brenda,Sylvia Parsons and next door Marcus Hetherington.As I got older we used the brookers as a meeting place for the gang,and made bike tracks there,we also ventured further afield going up the" range".This was the old rifle fireing range which was used during the war mainly by the home Guard but occasionally by Regiments out on manoeuvre's,this range was not used after the war.We used to dig up spent (occasionally unspent) cartridges all around and made bike tracks up, down and through there too.From the" brookers" you went up a path through orchards on both sides, here there were Apples of all sorts, several types of Pear plus at least two different plums but our favourite Scrumping fruit was Gooseberries(Goosegogs we called them),Altogether there were five different Orchards to scrump from,(naughty boys)These Orchards were known to us as Uptons orchards,many's the day the shout would go up "run lads Uptons coming"luckily he never managed to actually catch us although I think he knew who we were.Around this time we went through lots of teenage stages throwing Fireworks(silly boys) Catapults,Air Rifles, but one of our favourite tricks was tying two door knockers together with fishing line, then knock one door and run, as they opened that door it would pull up the knocker of the other one then when the line broke it would drop knocking the other one,the two occupants would often stand glaring at each other, each blaming the other,they could'nt see the thin fishing line that would have broken by then, mean while we would be hiding trying not to laugh out loud.
PICTURES me with Chris on my left and Peter on my right at 17yrs old. Look at 2nd picture on the left onThrough the years 2 (any likeness)?
Pic 2 Me at 11years old at Weston- Super- Mare on holiday.
Pic 3 At 11 yrs old my last school photo.
Pic 4 At 18 yrs old, just starting out with girls.