"I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night"..

HOHOHO and other such frosty, cold and wintery statements.. Dear Readers.. it is ZERO degrees here in deepest Knightsbridge! Very chilly-billy indeed.

Poor old bat.. SHE forgot to purchase some fresh vegetables from Carol in the market yesterday, the excitement of finding the Bavette Steak in the Butcher, obviously caused a short cicuit in the food shopping department of HER brain.. 

So out SHE had to go.. bbrrr.. so cold, a wicked wind is blowing in from the east.. they call it The Beast from the East.. very apt! 

SHE was in the market talking to a stall holder friend, Patsy, when they heard the lubbly-jubbly young Butcher singing the Christmas song! 

Read Title of this Post again.. 

He is as daft as a brush but oh, so happy, because..

This scandal in Europe of the Horsemeat in frozen and supermarket food has caused a huge amount of business for GOOD Butchers! And HER lovely Butchers - Dickinsons - sell excellent meat. 

So Patsy and SHE joined in.. they are daft dollies! 

Coconut Milk, fresh Humous, Limes, Yellow Beetroots, bag of Red Onions, English Apples, Spinach, a bottle of Black Seed Oil for HER poor old knees. A week-end paper.

And then home via one of HER favourite places, 

the Library. Books returned, more taken.. 

Home.. drawbridge up.. three hot water bottles into bed to make it cosy and snug.. Prawns into a strong marinade of Lime and Garlic.. ready for supper tomorrow night.. SHE will serve them on Angel Hair Noodles.. Meat out of the fridge to relax, a-rub-a-dub-dub with spices. Allow to sit.

PURRRFECT.. Quick.. Jump into warm bed, I sit on HER head whilst SHE writes MY Blog for YOU and WE send YOU the very best of best wishes for a happy week end.

Meanwhile.. on the board in YumYum HQ, that meat is going to be.. YOU all know that magic word.. yes.. Dear Readers.. Scrummydumptious.

GeeGee Parrot.

February 23rd, 2013.

Bon jour Madame.. 250 grammes de Bavette s'il vous plait.

Oh.. HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN.. Oh, Dear Readers.. I have such Tales to tell YOU!

Where to begin?  I suppose the beginning is always best place to start.. so I'll back YOU up to last night.

For last night SHE went out to supper with some of the other volunteers from Trinity to say "Farewell" to Lee-Anne who is going home to Adelaide.. it was a bitterly cold night.. so the cute brown wig, the colour of which matches HER eyebrows, was slapped on HER head and out SHE went!

To be greeted with very positive remarks on HER new hair style and then much laughter when they realised it was a wig!

This morning SHE awoke and thought, as YOU do (sometimes) when your iPad is registering Zero degrees, I am SO bored with MY hair, picked up telephone and called Chris @ Smile. Such a FABULOUS hairdresser.. brilliant with colour and a master with the scissors, they are old friends for Chris has been cutting HER hair for OVER twenty years now and has never let HER down when they decide to 'do' something completely different!

An appointment at 12.30pm was fixed and off SHE went.. to emerge three hours later.. looking at least TWENTY years younger! WOW, it gave ME quite a shock as I knew wig was on the bed!

Now to the funny bit.. SHE had forgotten something at the Trinity shop, so hopped on a bus and went down to collect it.. in SHE went, greeted the Friday team, all of whom had been at supper last night and had seen the wig.. so no-one said a word, they thought SHE was wearing it again!

There will be a lot of laughter next week when they all realise that 'the wig' is actually HER own hair!

Next up.. Title of today's Post!

When YOU enter any shop on the continent.. it is simply 'good manners' to greet the butcher, baker etc, etc.. and SHE always does it here in England, good manners, SHE thinks are 'good' anywhere.

Today is Friday.. and the market is on the way home from Trinity.. so with a quick hop and a skip  to the right, SHE has HER beloved Dickinson's, the Butcher and almost next door is HER equally beloved Fishmonger.

Whilst waiting to be served.. a quick look in the window to see what was on 'special'.. revealed.. ooh, look. A particularly delicious cut of meat particular to France.. this is a very clever move to attract foreign customers by offering them familiar cuts.. BAVETTE.

Suddenly.. SHE was transported back in time to 1969, to St.Tropez and SHE was aged 19! Les Filles, as the Villa girls were called, were given their lodging and gas for their Mobylettes but they were paid very little.. 60 francs a week.. but money was not important! They were young and didn't need much money.. and everyone knew les filles.. restaurants fed them for free.. there was always an extra onion, sardine or apple in the market bag.. and for a hugely SPECIAL TREAT.. there was a trip to the lovely Butcher for "Bon jour Madame, 250 grammes de Bavette, s'il vous plait".

WE have just eaten some.. oooh, I have never had that cut of meat before, it was truly and absolute scrummydumptious!  SHE remembered how SHE used to cook it.. very simply..

What a great day.. SHE 'lost' twenty years off HER face and 'found' Bavette which SHE hasn't eaten for FORTY FOUR YEARS!

Tomorrow SHE is going to make Ecuadorian Prawn Ceviche. Could life be more perfect? Oh, that Chilly-Billy can do his worst. WE have serious stuff to do in YumYum HQ and hope YOU do too?

Slurp..

GeeGee Parrot.
February 22nd, 2013.

ABOUT TWENTY FIVE AT THE MOST..

HeeHee.. oh, such a funny (haha, not peculiar) thing.. remember ME saying that it is very chilly-billy here in deepest Knightsbridge, well, SHE had to go out for a while.. and although SHE had a proper coat on and a scarf over HER head.. when it was time to come back, SHE shot back down those stairs as if ole Nick himself was after HER!

And went immediately, SHE could not have got there any sooner, to a cupboard and pulled out a very hairy monster.. with a quick slick of a hairbrush, SHE tidied it up and slipped it on.. yes folks.. a wig!

It actually suits HER tremendously well.. SHE looks to be about in about HER mid twenties and it is exactly how SHE wore HER hair when SHE was very young.. YOU want to know how WE know this? Because it was the very much beloved aunt Hay who gave the wig to HER and showed HER a photo taken in 1962 of HER with short bobbed hair.. and, in those days, it was not platinum but a deep russety brown, exactly the same as the wig.

It will cause general hysteria at tonights supper party.. does SHE care? Not one jot! Anything to be warmer.. I haven't been brave enough to venture up there yet, mind YOU.. it probably won't be worn to bed, well, I hope not.

Granny-Jo has sent an email saying she likes the sound of Radicchio.. yes Granny-Jo, SHE will pick leaves and do them exactly as you wrote.. with Olive Oil and crunchy Salt.. very scrummydumptious indeed and VERY good for the digestion.

And Pegeen has said complimentary things about HER gardening.. how very pleasant some folk are.

Goodness ME, it is nearly 4.30pm already! SHE better get a wiggle on and get a'going.. has to get money for tonights supper from a hole in the wall and then take a bus down the Fulham Road in order to meet up with the others..

ME, I am a'staying here.. for it is FAR too cold for a small person like ME out there.. brrrr. I get to sit on top of comfy bedroom door and think of warmer times.. I wish they would come sooner rather than when the weather man is talking about, he said that norty old chilly-billy is here for another week.. eek!

Meanwhile MY poor old bat has to go out and do life outside.. lucky ME, is what I say.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 21st, 2013.

SPRING SPRANG.. and fell backwards.

Greeting Dear Readers.. I hope YOU are all snuggly-buggly wherever YOU may be? For here, in deepest Knightsbridge, it is cold enough to freeze those poor old brass Monkeys.

I know the title of the Post said Spring Sprang.. well, it did.. but only for two days! Off SHE went to garden, admittedly wearing several layers of clothing, but off SHE went and found all sorts of thrilling things!

The new cutting bed of dark Blue Hyacinths looks as if it will produce some beautiful blooms, all those Narcissi are poking their noses through, Misses Snowdrop is out in force, showing off those skinny green legs with pretty green and white frocks.. Peonies are showing their pink noses.. SHE warned them not to be in such a hurry.. Miss Rhubarb was sheltering under her forcer.. oooh, WE LURVE Rhubarb with Ginger, so a few stalks jumped into basket.

Off to check on those naughty Cherry girls.. and WHAT is this SHE spies? Well.. goodness ME! For underneath Miss Morello, tucked in amongst the wood chip mulch, was a Miss Radicchio! And what a sight to behold, for as it has been so cold she is the darkest red SHE has ever seen.

Not a weed to be seen on Asparagus's bed.. just a cosy duvet of manure and wood chips, next month SHE will scratch the surface and scatter lots of seaweed and other goodly things.

SHE scritched and scratched between all the onions and garlics, pruned the seed Fruit trees a little more. Dug a long skinny bed where those naughty vines used to be.. it is here that SHE will plant the new Plum tree.

Then Joska called HER name.. how very nice to see him again, for he is one of HER favourite gardening neighbours! Chew, chew.. they chewed the fat, he had such happy news! His American friend is coming to live with him here in London!! She writes books, so next month they are off to meet the company in Germany who will be publishing her books in Europe.. AND she loves to GARDEN! BIG PLUS in her favour!

It was time to leave, SHE gave him permission to take ALL the clippings, he buries them and creates wonderfully deep beds for his long rooted vegetables.

Two days SHE worked and as it was SO sunny and warm, SHE worked without HER coat.. then winter returned! With a vengeance! Easterly winds of 50 miles per hour making it feel minus 5 - 10! COLD.. will be apparently for about a week.. bbbrrrrrr!

Tonight SHE has to go out to supper with the Trinity bunch to say "Farewell" to Lee-Anne who is going home to her family in Adelaide.. quite right too. Why stay here with no family when they are missing her like crazy back there?

Time for US to shake legs and wings.. Stay warm folks.. PipPip.. I am thinking happy thoughts of  OUR gardening gang getting back together with laughter and jaunts and clay-oven building, yes, that is a project for the summer! SHE is going to raise the height of OUR back fence.. stops those norty balls coming over AND those even nortier thieves!

WE send OUR best wishes to YOU all.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 21st, 2013.

AN ANGEL IN UNION STATION.. FINAL.. PART THREE.

OK.. are YOU ready for the final episode of HER mysterious Tale? YOU might want to go back and re-read the previous Tale on HER fear of falling.. it is SUCH a long time since WE posted it!

OK.. here WE go.

When Sonia and SHE had finished, Sonia asked HER NOT to use the underground to go home but to use a bus and to take things a little quietly for a couple of  days.

So SHE walked to the bus stop and started the journey home from north London. On the way SHE realised that there were a couple of items that needed to be collected from a store on Oxford Street, so SHE changed buses and continued HER journey. Getting off in the busy street, SHe walked quickly into the store, took the lift to the third floor and collected the items which had been held for HER.

Coming away from the till, SHE saw an old friend on the escalator and without thinking of Sonia's words to take things quietly, SHE jumped on and called for HER friend.. who did not hear!

There were, admittedly, very few people on the escalator but SHE realised that the ONLY way to catch HER friend.. was to run.. DOWN.. the moving staircase!

SHE did.. and SHE ran with no fear of falling.. the crippling fear of falling down stairs that SHE had had for THIRTY SIX years had gone. THANK YOU SONIA!

This was in October 2005.

That Christmas, SHE went to stay with a woman whom SHE met through work,  the two of them had become friends, both as mad as each other!

When the friend had to go and do some work, SHE decided to jump on a train and visit a friend in San Diego.. simple, well, it should have been! SHe booked HER ticket on a Surfliner Train from Union Station in Los Angeles for the next day.

So onto the little train at Pasadena and choof choof into Union Station, entering the HUGE ticket hall, SHE joined the queque to collect a pre-paid ticket, only for the ticket woman to ask HER for HER passport... DONNGGGGGG.. NO PASSPORT with HER, only the credit card SHE had used to purchase said ticket for train leaving at now NOT TOO FAR DISTANT time!

HELP... what to do, nice ticket woman said "where is it".. SHE replied "on my bedside table in Pasadena".. nice woman said "if someone could get it to Pasadena Station, you could JUST make the journey there and back in time".. so after telephoning HER friend, who, thank goodness, was still at home and who said "yes, I'll do that for you, no problem".. off SHE FLEW to catch the little train.

All was accomplished.. SHE ran back into the ticket office at Union Station, the nice woman said "Sorry folks, let her through, we have an emergency here.. QUICK, now if you run very fast you will make it.. the train is on Track 12.. now run".

SHE ran very fast but to HER horror that there were probably a hundred other people all running for the same train.. and that TRACK 12 was down a long, steep flight of concrete steps.

SHE stopped for a nano-second, below HER the huge train was ready to roll but SHE saw and caught the eye of an enormous man.. he was in uniform and standing by a carriage door.. SHE ran down those steps with all the other people.. but as SHE got onto the platform beside the train this enormous arm shot out, caught HER up and lifted HER up into the carriage.

"WHO ARE YOU?" the enormous man asked HER. SHE asked him "Why?". WELL, you see Miss, I saw you stop at the top of the stairs and then you just took off and FLEW.. you had wings and you flew, your feet didn't touch those steps.. welcome aboard Miss.. welcome aboard the Surfliner".

It makes both of us wet-eyed that Tale, the mysterious Tale that started sometime in medieval England, back in the mist of time..

GeeGee Parrot.
February 6th, 2013.

A STARLING... IN MY HOME!

Dear Readers.. 

Many humble apologies are due to YOU.. SHE has been up to all sorts of naughtynesses - I know that such a word does not feature in a PROPER Dictionary but it features in MY vocabulary and this is MY Blog.. 

Why has SHE been up to this?  Well, Dear Readers, a very lonng time ago SHE was at a school, yes, SHE did go to school, in fact, SHE went to several of these learning establishments.. where they took HER poor parent's hard earned dosh and supposedly taught HER stuff.. like History / Geography.. got the picture? 

But the school I am referring to was slightly different.. it also taught the children the four Arts.. Art, Dance, Drama & Music. It still exists today.. in fact, if YOU have read previous all MY previous Posts, YOU will have read about the young Ballet Student who has gone to join The Kirov Ballet in Russia, this girl started her Classical Ballet training at the school where SHE was.

One of the ex students has started a Arts Educational Trust Group on FaceBook.. no, YOU cannot look at it unless YOU are an ex student.. which is a very good thing too, as it appears from the choking and laughing that has been going on in OUR home, that they were very mischievous and up to no good most of the time! 

And, of course, now they are reminding each other of all the naughty things that went on.. things that their poor parents certainly never knew about! And which they had probably forgotten about, they certainly never told THEIR children or grandchildren how naughty they had been at school!

And so this is where the word 'Starling' comes in.. because an old friend of HERS has described them as Starlings.. all eager to chat and exchange long lost memories of almost FIFTY years ago..

But it is very nice and it gives ME great pleasure to see HER laugh and smile.. even though SHE has not yet written the final up to date Post of that mysterious and medieval Tale!

WE will get there, I promise YOU.. I know this to be true, because 
I have HER captive at home.. HER 'problem' is back but a blood 
test has revealed that the poor old bat is HYPO-Thyroid.. now OUR beloved Gabi has been saying that for years.. but it had to get to a scary degree before the Medical folk would believe HER.. sigh.

Dear Readers, do not stray too far, I will be back.. 

GeeGee Parrot.
February 6th, 2013.