Birdbath Treats

It's wonderful to get a collage every year on my birthday from John Evans. I must have about 20 by now and some are framed all around the house. He's a busy man at the moment so delighted he remembered me this year.
Yesterday Hazel drove us to Chester to get a new CD recorder from Richer Sounds which is the only place you can get them it seems apart from the interweb. Sony have made the new one twice as big and twice as heavy as the old variety I bought 7 years ago for some weird reason only known to themselves when most gadgets are getting smaller and smaller! My arms were longer too by the time we got back to the bus stop and the "park and ride scheme". We also took the opportunity to pop into some charity shops but didn't find much. Hazel also bought me a light linen jacket for the summer as she hates the one I wear now. Trying on clothes in Gap is not my idea of fun - more like torture for someone more used to grabbing clothes from the rails of Oxfam!

Anyway, some hours later I am still trying to figure out how this thing works. It's a lot different from the other one and has less plugs for some reason which I find baffling! Hopefully will see the light over the next couple of days.

Good news too about the LULU book which has been dispatched and should be here soon. So looking forward to seeing my first proof copy. I expect there will be some tweaking to do before it's allowed out in public!


This is me in 1949 or thereabouts wearing a natty little outfit. I tried to find a baby photo but the family album is buried under tons of stuff. Hazel put this one in a frame and hung it on the stairs as it amuses her so much. I think my parents were still living in Highbury in London at the time in a one room flat. Just after the war logdings were hard to find because of all the bomb damage and the big rebuilding programme took awhile to get going. We spent several years with relatives before finding a small flat in Corringham in Essex above the Coots ,who used to shell shrimps for a living. Just down the road was the family who had the first TV in Corringham and they were very popular when the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth happened in 1952 ( or was it three?). They moved to Canada I seem to remember and had to sell the mink farm they owned. I can still smell their house now- a mixture of mink and hot valves! This was a couple of years after this photo was taken though. I think my Dad tried to apply for new life in Australia but he wasn't really that qualified - just out of the army and worked in various jobs including electricians mate and a wheel tapper's listener on the railways.