Category Archives: Strange But True!

Things which strike me as well Strange!

Thursday Here!

I am still here, and no Op!  There is a lot of good in our NHS healthcare system in the UK and then there is some which is not good!  Mainly the organisation and booking of appointments.  I won’t go into the whole saga of it enough to say that the adminstrative staff who were supposed to book the Op didn’t and I am now trying to sort out a date which is suitable for DH and I!  Looking now like middle of February!

©Netflix

I forgot in all the Christmas posts about Stranger Things ending!  DH and I had been out for New Year’s Eve to friends for dinner and had a great time and did not get home until 2.00am.  Of course that was when the Stranger Things final episode dropped in the UK so by the time we got home and ready for bed, DH of course fell fast asleep but I could not resist putting the final episode on!  It was two hours long so I started it at 3.00am and finished at 5.00am! 

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT YET DO NOT READ ON!

What did I think of the final!  It was good although I thought some parts of it were a little too much in it, especially the soldiers and the “new” character played by Linda Hamilton.  I know why they included it but If I am honest I skipped over a lot of those bits as I did not think it added to the story at all.  I was a bit miffed with Eleven’s ending but was glad that the Duffer Brothers did do a proper ending with the characters especially the afterwards, which quite often does not happen.  I was sad that Nancy and Jonathan split up in the final episode and although I understand why I think they could have left that out. 

Finally is Eleven alive and living on her own in a far away country?  I want to believe it is so, but there are many, many questions of well how did she get there, what about money etc and I am sure they would say well Dr Sam Owens did not die and he found El and helped her get out of the country with new papers and money that was really from Papa’s estate which he left to Eleven as she was his only true success and although he subjected her to horrible tests he really did love her.  Well that’s my bit of storytelling.  

I know the whole series was only five but over ten years in the making and I am sorry it has ended.  I thought it was good and I loved seeing the character development and seeing the children grow into adults in the series and real life.  It was one of those shows where they did get the casting right.  I am now going to have to find a new show to watch which is similar to this!

So not having my Op has given me another weekend free with DH so we are out for dinner on Saturday with some friends and we have a few jobs we can get done at home which I had put off until next month.  We are still waiting for little one to arrive and Fiancée is completely fed up now, however taking after Daddy who was ten days late!!!  I will let you know when the event happens!  

You know how I said Monday was Blue Monday well today has gotten to me.  All this week has been like this, rain and grey skies and I don’t think we have seen the sun for weeks and it is depressing.  I understand how some people can suffer from SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Trying hard not to be though!

Sunday is Burn’s Night, a celebration of Robert Burns birth on January 25th 1759 and as Fiancée is Scottish I am doing a traditional dinner of Haggis, neeps and tatties and a Scottish dessert!  Of ccourse this is planned and so Little One will arrive!!!  Hey ho!

I hope you are all having a good week.  As it is Thursday here is a #TBT picture.

Thomas Day at Great Central Railway2005.  TheBoys were ten and six!

March 2007 in Inverness The Boyes were twelve and eight.  

Need to get on with home jobs now!  Have a terrific Thursday. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

We need it to be like this!

A Strange World.

Instagram is a funny thing.  It can give an unrealistic view of people, places, things but it can also inform if you use it in a certain way.  I have Instagram and of course a lot of the things/people/companies I follow, besides friends, are book publishers, restaurants we have been to, stores I shop at, crafty things and of course Airedales. 

However I did discover an Instagram account by a Lady who lives in Derbyshire, not far from us, who absolutely loves the 1940’s, she and her family live like it is the 1940’s!  I have gone through quite a few of her posts and am amazed by the detail to which she mainly goes to, to recreate the era.  From dressing in the style of the era to doing her hair like the old film stars of the time.  Where they live is also decorated with things from the 1940’s, albeit with the odd modern touch of a flat screen TV. 

The lady does not work and stays home with their two very young children and cooks, cleans and shops like they would in the 1940’s.  It is very admirable that she shops locally and trys to reduce the amount of plastic that they have and buy fresh rather than do a weekly shop, which we are all trying in some way to do.

There are quite a group of these people living like this and they are called “the Young Revivalists” and often go out at the weekend to events which show life in past eras.  Our local Steam Train centre does quite a few of these events.  These young women are going back to the days of the men go out to work and the women work in the home.

I find it fascinating in some ways.  Haven’t we all at one time or another wished that we could not always be reached on our mobile phones, or thought that life was simpler years ago but of course life was also a lot harder too.  As you know I spent all my school holidays with my Grandparents.  My Grandfather was born in 1897 and my Grandmother in 1904 so were young in the Roaring Twenties (they actually married in 1929 and there is another story about that I will tell you in another post!). 

Now my Grandmother was a stay at home Mom and she taught me how to sew, cook, bake, clean the house and all the tips and tricks that her mother had taught her.  I also used to help my Grandfather in the garden and learnt alot about plants and growing things from him.  So you could say that my Grandmother lived the life that these women are re-creating.  However when my Mom was off and married my Grandmother bought a shop and ran that for fifteen years until my Grandfather retired from work and my Great Grandmother had her shop until she retired in 1967.  So they were both modern women of the day.

I think to aim to do things around your home, like baking, sewing and shopping to try and reduce plastic waste and all that is a good idea but I don’t think I could live like it is the 1940’s no matter how much I would like a quieter life!!  There was an experiment done by one of our TV companies quite a few years ago now where they took a modern family of six and put them in a house from the 1900.  The house was returned to its original fixtures and fittings from the year it was built and the family had to live there for three months.  It was an excellent programme seeing them cope with things like no washing machines, cooking on a range, only gas lamps or candles for light and walking/cycling everywhere and shopping locally on a daily basis a there was no cold room/store and definitely no fridge!!  Look out for the show which is called “The 1900 House”

I do follow the Derbyshire 1940’s Lady to see how she does things and copes with living like that in 2022, whilst I am using all my modern things. However she does use her mobile phone to upload pictures to Instagram of her 1940’s life!!!!

I hope you are having a very sunny Tuesday. 

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

 

Can You Imagine….?

Can you imagine the song writers now trying to write their hits in the current climate?

“Saturday Night at the Movies/The Drifters – Saturday night at the movies, Who cares what picture you see when you’re huggin’ with your baby in the last row in the balcony?” Now it would be “Saturday night at the movies, who cares what picture you see when you’re socially distanced with your baby, face masks for you and me”!!!!!!!!!!!

Or how about “Uptown Girl/Billy Joel – I’m gonna try for an uptown girl, She’s been living in her white bread world, As long as anyone with hot blood can, And now she’s looking for a downtown man That’s what I am” Now it would be “I’m gonna try for an Uptown Girl, She’s been living in her current Tier, As long as I’m in the same Tier, and now she’s looking for a downtown Tier That’s where I am”!!!!!!!

Or “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree/Brenda Lee – Rockin’ around the Christmas tree At the Christmas party hop Mistletoe hung where you can see Let the Christmas spirit ring Later we’ll have some pumpkin pie And we’ll do some caroling” Now it would be “Rockin Around the Christmas tree, only six at the Christmas party hop, Mistletoe hung where you can see, Let the Christmas spirit ring, later we’ll have some pumpkin pie And we’ll do some socially distanced caroling”!!!!!

It’s the same with our favourite novels can you imagine how they would be written today? How would Hercule Poirot manage to do his final reveal at the end of the book if only six people could be in the room at one time? Can you imagine George R.R. Martin having to deal with all his characters under the restrictions today? The books would be even longer!!!!!! Harry Potter not able to go to Hogwarts but doing his wand work over the computer and blowing it up!!!!!!!!

It’s also the same with our favourite movies. No way could you film the biggest scene for extras ever in a movie at the moment which was “Ghandi” his funeral which had 300,000 extras! Or “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy which had 20,000 extras in or “Around the World in Eighty Days” which had over 60,000 extras, spread out in 13 countries and 112 locations!!

Anyway I hope you have had a little giggle at the above but it does make you wonder…….!

Have a Terrific Tuesday.

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

Friday 13th?

 

We were talking earlier in the week about superstitions and here we are on Friday 13th!  Do you worry about Friday 13th?  I must say, touch wood (!), that it doesn’t bother me!!!!!! Ha, Ha!!!!!!!

I must admit I have never had the bad luck that other people have said they have had on this day but then are they noticing things because of the date and on any other date they wouldn’t have noticed it!!!!

I have been working at my desk all day and not got any of my house jobs done but I am going to get them done in the morning whilst DH and Youngest are out at swimming.  We had a sprinkling of snow this morning but no more and Treacle was most disappointed! 

Quilting tomorrow and Sunday as well – I am going to ignore all the other jobs that really need to be done and push them back a week, well its a plan!!!!!

I hope everyone has a lovely Winter’s weekend and Happy Thoughts to all.

Hugs, Susie x

Very Cold Weather But….

This has been what my car has looked like every morning, heavy frost and very cold.  But I just love the patterns of the ice on the window.

The weather is supposed to get a little warmer by the end of the week but at the moment it is really cold but still no snow.  However these days do provide some great pictures.

The sunset when I was on my way to fetch Youngest from school.  Love the tree in all its bareness!

On March 6th the weather conditions were just right for lots of parts in the UK to see the Northern Lights, especially in Scotland.

Tonight I have a basket of ironing to do but hopefully tomorrow evening I will be able to do some more sewing.

I hope your Tuesday is going well.

Hugs, Susie x