HAHAHAHA

The London son is home for the weekend to catch up with Oscar and he's been showing us some youtube videos - I'm going to have to reapply my makeup because I'm a wreck with all the laughing!

BOY GEORGE

 

Oh dear. Can it really only be me who has niggles after these nights out? I try to put my age aside and imagine how I'd have felt when I was 20. Maybe then I wouldn't have minded temporary deafness after a concert but I don't think even at that age I'd have expected to have my eardrums assaulted at a Boy George event. As it was we couldn't pick out a word of any of his songs or catch any of the, presumably witty, asides between songs. That was such a shame. He has a sweet melodic voice and that's what we'd gone along to hear but it was at least 30 seconds into each tune before we could recognise what it was - the speakers killed the whole evening. The best of the repertoire was Hare Krishna and that was because he joined forces with the backing singers to belt out the lines. My husband needn't have worried about standing out in the audience - the majority in the circle were our age while the "boppers" downstairs were in their 30s.

The only good thing about the noise level was that we couldn't distinguish any of the self-penned songs sung by the support act - Declan someone. Because he'd written the things himself we had no way of knowing whether they were good or bad but then he came to the finale - his version of Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet" - one of my all time favourites. He murdered it and then stamped on its grave. Shocking. At one point he apologised in advance for the swear words in his next song - he needn't have bothered because no-one could make out a single word, in fact to start with I thought, judging by his name, that he was singing in Irish.

KEANE

 

We've (ok, I've) booked tickets for Keane and because every time I see them, I want to see them again, I've booked twice - once for the MEN and once for the Liverpool Arena. I'm just listening to their new album and can't wait till it's out on Monday. I've also just booked for Coldplay in December at the MEN - a bit late in the day and we'll need our binoculars to see them and I'll have to blindfold my husband who has a massive fear of heights. But first, Boy George this Sunday.

Our daughter has asked me to be by the computer at 9am today in order to book for the Pussycat Dolls - never heard of them!

BARTON GRANGE

There's a new (well, it opened in March apparently, but it's new to me) Barton Grange  garden centre at Brock, to the north of Preston and I reckon it's the best in the North West. Every year I rant and rave about Christmas decorations going up too early but the selection of decorations at this place was so incredible that I couldn't resist them - so now they'll have to take their place beside all the others in the loft until the week before Christmas. The other irresistable things about this garden centre are the cakes - massive meringues, gorgeous buttery toasted tea cakes etc etc so we polished off a hearty selection and then made our way to the Plough At Eaves for lunch

 

The menu was better than the actuality!

After 24 hours of worry yesterday about a certain family member who has his savings with icesave, we were more than a little relieved this morning when our generous Chancellor of the Exchequer promised to bail him out. Thank goodness.

Oscar has us all wrapped around his little finger and here's another picture of him for my good friend Barabara, in New Zealand!

FLU JABS

I hate anything that makes me face up to the fact that old age is creeping up on me so standing in a long queue of OAPs which included my husband, waiting for a flu jab didn't go down well today. Anyway it's now done - along with a second jab for pneumonia so now I can dance the night away in the pouring rain wearing t-shirt and shorts - theoretically, my family will be relieved to hear.

Oscar knows how to dress for the chilly weather

THE CRAVEN HEIFER

Friends recommended The Craven Heifer in the Trough of Bowland so we went yesterday. I can hardly believe that there are still such smashing places within a comparatively short drive, that we don't already know about. Anyway, this place is now on our favourites list. I had a bowl of piping hot fish soup (more like a fish stew and full of delicious monk fish and salmon) with warm, crusty bread and my husband loved his battered fish with home-made tartar sauce in a big buttered bun. We sat by a roaring fire, overlooking beautiful scenery bathed in October sunshine.

 

BRUGES

We've just booked a few days in Bruges when the Christmas markets are on - can't wait. The hotel overlooks the canal and last time we stayed there every room was full of beautiful antiques (we didn't steal them so presumably they'll still be there). I'm looking forward to the moules and frites and the gorgeous beef stew served with hot apple sauce.

 

We might be able to pick up a few unusual Christmas presents for Oscar.

Now that the betting is over for the date of his birth, quickly followed by the time of birth, we've now resorted to taking bets on his future career - Harvard student, architect, quantity surveyor and musician have all been thrown into the pot. And through it all this beautiful little boy just keeps his own counsel and sleeps.