The Laughing Policeman

and his ridiculous looking mum!

Me and T having a good giggle when we were trying on assorted police hats at the annual family day. A jolly good time was had by all.

The dinkiest police van I ever did see. Great colour choice too.

A Different Day Out

The plan hatched on Wednesday evening between me and G was that we would have a family day out on Thursday and we chose Poole as our destination.
Research was done on the internet regarding things to see and do once there and we decided that once we had arrived by train in Bournemouth we would then get the open top tour bus down to Poole. A perfect way to travel on such a sunny day.
Only we didn't manage to get on the bus. It drove past us. Us and the other 2 groups of people waiting at the bus stop. You can either get the bus from it's starting point at the pier or the next point on which is the town centre. We went to the town centre as it was a bit closer to walk to from the station. It was due to arrive at 11.00am. It came into view at 11.15 and just as swiftly disappeared!
We stood there agog for a second or two and then G gave the company a call. Apparently we were supposed to hail the bus as there are over 100 stops on this route. Reading the website the night before it never mentioned this and it also states there are 22 stops. Given that we were at a designated bus stop on what we were led to believe was a limited stop service we thought the bus would slow down in it's approach to see if there was anyone waiting at the very least!
The service runs hourly and the last bus back is 5pm so we didn't want to wait around for an hour and have an less in Poole, so Plan B was put into action. Luckily I had bought the children's swimmers and a towel with me so we hit the beach.



G didn't have his so he after a quick paddle he nipped up into town and bought a pair of swim shorts so he could go in an enjoy himself with T and S.

Thankfully we had a really lovely day in the end as you can see by a very smiley Miss S.

The children played in the sea for hours, we ate fish and chips and just enjoyed being on a family day out.

I am normally a bit of a wuss when it comes to fairground rides but I actually fancied this one, maybe next time!

Just had to snap this very stylish lady I noticed on our way back to the station.

What a fabulous dress!

As a footnote to the above, we spoke with the other people at the stop and they weren't aware of the 'we only stop to a hailing request' policy either.

Today I sent a very polite email of complaint to the company and they have replied with an equally polite email and said they will send us a complimetary family ticket to use so we shall get our trip one day, I hope!

If it's half term

then it must be time for a picnic in our local park.


Entertainment was provided with tennis ball and rackets and S's new hula hoop.
S is very adept at hula hooping the hula hoop on different parts of her body.
Strange expression optional!

T prefers jumping over the hula hoop as it rolls back to him, which he did 9 times out of 10.

The flowers, shrubs and trees at this park always look so well tended as demonstrated by this border running the length of the old wall.

A team of council gardeners were hard at work whilst we were there planting up more beds. Hard at work in between the 2 rain showers and one hail shower we had in the 3 hours we were there.

The work the staff do is not only appreciated by us but also the bees who were everywhere being busy.

May Scavenger Hunt

We've not been out and about so much this month because of the work being done inside and outside the house plus bad backs for both me and G so photo opportunites have been a bit limited and I actually only finished the last couple of items this morning!

So here we go...
A butterfly- taken on a family walk back at the beginning of the month.


A bicycle- snapped in HomeBase whilst looking for paint tester pots.

An emergency vehicle- a fire engine from the children's carousel in town.

A red door- Salisbury train station.

Texture- tree trunk on a different family walk this month.

Something blue- a rubbish bin in a children's playground.

A black and white portrait- this piece of graffiti has been added to the wall just outside the church where I go and see my dad each week. I think it's Andy Warhol?

Sign of the zodiac- Leo the Lion!

A cartoon character- T modelling his Family Guy t-shirt.

A street light- snapped from inside the train when we stopped at Dean train station yesterday. It's actually in someone's garden, but it's the closest thing I could find.

An interesting local building- just down the road and round the corner this old Public Bath buliding is looking a lot less attractive than it must have once looked what with all the metal grills over it and the big advice centre notice. But at least it's being used.

Think vintage- a favourite brooch.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else have come up with this month too.

Blog Break

I have had a week away from Blogland becuase it's just been too darn difficult to get near the computer for any length of time.
We've had plastering work done.
The hall, stairs and landing and the dining room.
Furniture has been shifted around and it's been a bit cramped in some rooms and also very, very dusty.
But that's stage one complete and we've gone from having yellow walls

to drying plaster walls.
The next stage is patch painting with tester pots. I would really like something as neutral as possible and we are looking at the 'endurance' type ranges as it needs to be able to cope with all our comings and goings in the hall as G has asked we have the same colour leading through from there into the dining room.

With it being half term next week I don't think we're going to get an awful lot done decorating wise so this is going to be a project that's going to take a while. Pretty standard for our house really!

This morning we headed out to the car boot. Not much around for us today. I bought a couple of cookbooks and these 2 items for S. The necklace is for me although it does match S's new top very well.

On the way back we stopped at one of the country parks and spent another hour outside before coming home for lunch and a viewing of Doctor Who Confidential.

I have to admit to becoming slightly obsessed with it this series. I want answers to all the cliffhangers they keep leaving us with.

What a week!

All week we were waiting for the result of T's senior school appeal and on Friday we finally received a letter with those magical words 'appeal be allowed'.
What a huge relief! Cue cheering and jigging on the spot!
G had attended the hearing on 13th and was told we should have a letter through the post on Tues or Wed. Nothing arrived and so I rang them to be told the letters weren't actually going out until Thursday.
So it was Friday before the verdict was delivered by post. We were on tenterhooks all week!



My back has been giving me a lot of discomfort and a little pain this past week.Sitting down has been the worst position and not helpful for blogging or blog reading. Thankfully I've been and had a couple of sessions with a chiropractor and Oh the difference going to see her has made, although my back felt so sore yesterday. I've been given some simple exercises to do at home and told I need to strengthen my core muscles.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at the fabulous flowers on this post. They are all from a beautiful posy of flowers gathered from the garden of another blogger whom many of you are probably very familiar with. Lou from www.poppy-lou.blogspot.com had very kindly invited me to her home where I had a tour of her incredible garden.

A freshly baked lemon cake was enjoyed as we spent a (very quick) couple of hours chatting about all sorts. All too soon it was time to leave and as well as the flowers Lou gave me some very pretty crochet bunting made by her own fair hand. Is there a craft this clever woman is incapable of?! I shall show it off once I've got it hanging up.

Thank you Lou for a lovely afternoon and for my lovely gifts.

**edited to change link to Lou's blog,it won't let me do a linky thing**

Weekend Wanderings

We haven't ventured far in the last couple of weekends as there have been things needing to be done at home and these past few weeks G has been in a lot of pain and discomfort with his back. For this reason we've not wanted to be too far from home so he's able to rest when he needs it.
Not sure the snail on the face method of pain relieft is a recognised practise but G thought it would be interesting to see what it felt like. Verdict: not entirely unpleasant. I'll just take his word for it!

After a cuppa and a plan of action chat in the garden we decided on a trip to HomeBase for some paint samples and a curtain track.
We bought the paint samples but no curtain track.
However we did buy a picnic bench for the back garden.
What colour should it be painted?

We choose HomeBase as it's near a playground and little walk we've done many times which kept us outside long enough for the children to run around and use up some of that seemingly endless energy

on the compulsory 'sword' fight with branches that look more suitable for jousting.

On Sunday G suggested we went to Netley Common as although it is a 10 minute drive away we hadn't been there before.

Near the entrance is this little mound

and without this information board near it we wouldn't have looked twice it. But on reading we discovered it's actually 3,500 years old.

Also the board stated that somewhere behind us was a Roman road which when excavated had wheel ruts running along the side of it. Signs of life here so long ago which G and I found so fascinating.

Whilst my 3 were busy searching out suitable sticks for fighting I kept busy with the camera.

Just before the end of our walk we rounded a corner and were greeted by this cottage. What a perfect looking place to live.