YOU MUST.. 'SPECULATE TO ACCUMULATE'..

Well.. the same should be applied to when you are attempting to lose weight! And here's why.

Last week, she ran around all over town at high speed gathering her 'nuts' in the way of last minute donations, money and other such exciting goodies. Whilst travelling at high speed, she neither ate nor drank.

So come today.. when she was weighing in and hoping for at least a 2.5 or maybe 3lb weight lose.. what did she find? This hideous truth that.. if you don't eat enough (of the right foods) your fat tumtum will almost certainly stay the same size!

The week when she was most gratified to find she'd lost 3lbs, she'd eaten a pizza.. a whole BIG pizza all by herself! So that's it, if she leaves the house, she'll take a litre bottle of water and a box full of ham or tuna and salad with her.

She's just come home smelling of something scrumptious! Apparently it was a middle eastern very thin flat bread filled with spinach, cheese and onions.. "slurp" was all she said. But she had also bought french beans and pears and carrots and some bacon. So instead of fruit, she'll have eggs and bacon in the morning, I'll have my soft hard boiled egg, which I love, together with a spoonful of hummus.

But hey, at least she didn't gain anything and she has lost something every week for the past nine weeks, this time her loss is not half as dramatically quick as when she last decided to lose weight but she's older now and wants 'everything' to shrink at the same time!

So what was her weight loss this last week? Half a lb.. which means that she's nearly lost two bags of dog food.. when she was young, the dogs had a dog biscuit called Winalot, it came in 7lb bags and you didn't want to carry those bags around all day long.. but that is what she's been doing (and more) on her poor old dodgy knees.

She's intending, I might say with her doctors' full approval) to lose the equivalent of 5 bags of dogs food.. watch this space!

More yumyum and more water and exercise should help her along. Then Mr. Alun, her Vascular specialist, won't bark at her when she goes for her yearly check-up in October!

Pouring cats and dogs here.. not a chance of going out to work in the allotments but they are getting lots to drink, thank goodness.

Me, I've had lunch and I'm off for a doze on my pole, she's got a white wash to do, so we bid farewell to you, Dear Readers and to Summer, for tomorrow is September the First, the first day of Autumn.. and yippee.. Oysters are back in season!

GeeGee Parrot.
August 31st, 2015.

THAT FEMALE COP SAVED THE DAY!

You have to laugh, don't you? Back we go.. whoosh.. to last Thursday when it appeared that Lambeth Council had NOT sent her the Alcohol License she needed for the Rotary BBQ. She telephoned the department and was told "it is not dealt with here, it's issued from Blue Star House just off Brixton High Street.

So having kissed me on Beaky, off she went to get the License.. only to be told by a rather sneaky young man "oh no, we can't do that because the man had to leave for the day". GRRRRR.. after much verbal wriggling about by some, I regret to say, completely inafficient council employees, she blew her stack!

In the lobby, where she had been penned for an hour, there arrived a tiny slip of a girl, who asked her "what has happened?" and so she explained in words of one syllable exactly what she needed and how some people were being incredibly UN-helpful. The tiny girl then looked very shocked and said "but Mr.So&So has only just left, it was him that went out when I came in".

She looked at the tiny girl and said "ok, now I've fed up with being given this rubbish, do you know where the police station is? And where is International House" and the tiny girl pulled open the main door and said "come with me".

They walked across Brixton High Street and the girl said "there's the police station and there's International House, good luck" and back she went to the other building

My mum walked into International House and WOW.. what a difference! There was a pair of receptionists at the front desk, they both smiled at her and one said "how may I help you".

She gave a very short history of the problem and then asked "Do you have a policewoman based here called Judy", the woman said "we certainly do, I will call her for you, please pick up that phone when I tell you".

The telephone rang, she picked it up and a woman's voice said "how may I help you?" and my mum replied "hello, do you remember that woman who was applying for a license that got lost in Brixton Police Station and her being so rude about the police, well, here I am, because Blue Star House are refusing to give it to me".

An explosion exploded at the other end and the policewoman asked "you're downstairs? Stay there, I'll deal with this immediately"

My mum asked if there was a lavatory she could use and was buzzed through a security door and shown where it was, when she came back in only a few minutes time.. there was a very anxious looking young man standing in reception with an envelope in his hand.

He asked her "are you Miss ......, here is your Alcohol License", which he handed to her and then he disappeared in a big hurry.

She asked to speak to the policewoman again and they squealed with laughter and she said "well.. well.. well.. you've got it now and the next time, I suggest you come straight to me and I'll deal with your application, best of luck for Saturday and I hope you raise lots and lots of money at your fund-raiser".

She took WW and off they trundled to catch a 133 bus up to Streatham High Road so she could take the license to show it to Morrisons, who could only release alcohol as a donation upon sight of that license.. OI VEY..

She was running on adrenaline for those few days, the alcohol license was VITAL, can you imagine going to a grown-up BBQ and not being able to drink a beer, let alone a glass of wine! No, I don't think you can, can you!

So you see.. the cop saved the day and my mum's sanity!

GeeGee Parrot.
August 31st, 2015.

THAT'S FINISHED, NOW WHAT'S NEXT.. WELL, SHE'S BEEN ASKED IF SHE WILL GIVE A TALK AT ROTARY HQ!

Yes, Dear Readers, she has totalled the figures from her raffle sales, the silent auction sales and they amount, together with a couple of donations which she received yesterday morning, to over £750.00.

NOT shabby, still to be factored in are bar sales, extrance ticket sales and other people's raffle sales. But they've aced it.. for they will have done double last years figure.

The weather wasn't too unkind to them, thank goodness! South London Press sent Katie, a charming photojournalist whom she introduced to the District Governor who had come to support the Streatham Rotary Club, along with several members from other clubs.. lured to Streatham by the wonderful silent auction prizes!

It is the last Bank Holiday week end, Nottinghill Carnival is taking place, our part of London is almost deserted, except for tourists who are wandering around wondering where everyone is!

This is short and sweet as there is much organising that has to go on, her computer is back and now she has to remember how to set it up!

My tumtum is completely feathered up, the ones on my back are taking longer as they're bigger feathers but they're getting there and so I will be cosy when naughty old Winter comes along.

Gulp, is what happened when the District Governor asked her if she would give a talk at Rotary's HQ.  I am not quite sure when she'll be doing this and she was also asked to give a talk to another Rotary Club in the New Year.. more gulps!

I'll tell you more about the subjects when it is nearer the time.. poor old bat, it gave her a bit of a shock to be asked but at least she doesn't mind public speaking and knows how to project her voice properly.

Off we must go.. such excitement.. the dishwasher has packed up so she has to clear out everything so that the Wizard, aka Rob, can get at the back of the machine. Two cupboard doors in our bedroom have come off their hinges, they're those new fanged sort, why these people cannot put old fashioned hinges beats me and her but they don't and the doors are much too heavy to replace the hinges on her own.

OI VEY.. is what I say and PipPip.. and FlapFlap.. for there are places to go.. and things to do.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 30th, 2015.

BEING BUG-EYED AGAIN & TELLING A (VERY) SENIOR POLICEWOMAN THAT A CERTAIN POLICE STATION WAS USELESS.. BY MISTAKE..

I know, I know.. well, let's start at the beginning which, as you all know by now, is my favourite place to start a tale!

She got bitten by that dastardly bug last Saturday, it caused her left eye lid and cheek to swell but the clever pharmacist said "put cucumber on it as I don't want to give you anti-histamine pills because of your glaucoma". Sure enough, the cucumber did the trick.

Off she went to the allotment again on either Tuesday or Wesnesday, can't remember which, and yesterday morning woke up with a very sore eye lid which was angry, red and swollen. Off she went to the pharmacist again.

"Oh, my goodness me, well, now you do have an infection" and she gave her a tube of Golden Eye Ointment, having squirted some into her eye and smeared some along her lid, she went off to Streatham to join up with the Dementia Support Group.

Only for the bus driver to say "Sorry folks, we are being diverted as there's a nutter on the loose with a gun".. but she got there eventually and joined in with the singing, people kept trying to give her a copy of the songsheets.. is she foreign? She KNOWS all these songs!

She came home just in time to answer a landline telephone call which went pretty much like this..

"Hello, may I speak with Miss ....., my name is Judy .... and it is about an application for a temporary Alcohol License", she said it was her speaking and the woman said "we still haven't received the form", upon which she exploded with rage and told Judy exactly what her President had done and where she had taken the stamped 'date received' by Lambeth Council copy and that when she handed it into ........ Police Station, a fat, young, fast asleep, rather stupid policeman had said "we don't deal with those here, I don't know where you take them" and then a woman's voice out of sight said "Yea, we do take those, they go up to so&so".

Then Judy said the classic words "I AM THE POLICE" and my mum said "oh.. shit" and then the two of them had hysterics! They squealed and choked with laughter" and then Judy said "ok, it is down to us and somebody's lost it, I'll sort this out and call you back before 7.00pm tonight".

And, bless her heart, she did! She kicked someone into touch and another stamped copy was brought over to her by some helpful assistant in the council office and so they have the license, as long as the Noise Dept don't object.

So when her President called for a chat at 8.30 last night, she recounted the tale word by word.. more squeals of laughter were squealed along with many "OH NO, you didn't" and she heard President's husband asking "what on earth has happened."

So there you are Dear Readers.. she's the one eyed bug again and was told not to go near her allotment for a week as there must be all manner of beastly bugs about, however, she's relying on Malaysian Chillies on Dumplings to help sweat it out of her system.

Yes.. it's Dumpling eating day with Debbie Goaty mum at Marylebone Farmer's Market tomorrow.. Slurp-the-durp.

But.. mind you.. her not going out because that poor sore eye doesn't like bright sunlight does mean that, room by room, our home is being turned upside down and scrubbed. That has not yet happened in our sitting room.. there are boxes of stuff to be sorted, shredded and given away. However, you don't throw away large squares of beautiful silk, you take them to quilt making classes.

But fruit has to be bought, so she does have to go to the market and I am off to my favourite perch.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 22nd, 2015.

WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU HAVE A 'LEMON-Y' KIND OF DAY? WELL! YOU MAKE LEMONADE!

She was 'trapped' at home today by the painters, they wanted our windows unlocked and our front door open so that they could paint said objects.

BUT.. what a nice day we've had! Several unexpected telephone calls have come in on her landline and Alan dropped some mail for a nighbour.. will Big Russ know to do this, she wonders?

Another call came through on her mobile and whilst it was glorious to speak with Patrick, whom she has known she she was eight, it rocked and shocked her, for some of his news was dreadful.

Patrick had two families, his father and two full brothers lived in France and his maman and his step-father lived in England with his two half brothers, Bruce and Charles, and his only sister Annabelle.

His tale was sad.. his papa has died of bone cancer, his glorious maman has died aged 96, Annabelle has died in Ischia where she lived since 1969. Bernard, one of his French brothers, died just two years ago, only a month after Annabelle, Patrick and Bruce went over for Bernard's funeral only to be met with the devasting news, upon their return to England, that Charles had had a heart atteack whilst they was in Paris and was dead.

She sat down and was speechless.. she's known them for so long.. they were in and out of each others homes when they were growing up.. and she'd had lunch a few years ago with Patrick and all was well with everyone.

Oi vey.

Then she got a call from Lambeth Police Alcohol Licensing Dept to say that they hadn't received the form that was given to Brixton Police Station last Thursday.. grrrr.. she needs this for the barbecue.. so she told the very nice police woman what had happened and there was a slight pause.. "I'll get back to you" she said to my mum - whose temper was about to unfurl its' rather unpleasant tongue.

She's had enough of incompetence and people losing these important forms. Now she's emailed everyone concerned and told them that as of now, if they give a form to anyone, they are to ask for a date stamped receipt for the form.

Grrr.

Onto happier things.. yeah.. only a couple of weeks and Bob and Tom will be here! She misses some of her friends very much. But they're spread all over the world now and emails and the odd long distance call just have to do. Sigh..

Don't be glum.. think of your tum, I murmured to her, for mine is almost back to its' former glory and covered in feathers and hers, well, it just ain't there any more!

Its' disappeared.. she's got more inches and a few kilos to lose but soon she'll be wearing those (American) size 4 skirts again! What a good thing she didn't give all those small sized clothes away! A lot have gone out of the door but not one's that she loved and she's decided to keep a couple of the long evening ones and to sell the rest.

Dreary weather.. it rained this morning.. but it needs to rain more. Rain at night and sun in the day would be perfect! And it might get those naughty yellow figs to ripen more quickly.. it is like watching paint drying only picking one a week!

She's (hopefully) picking up the Alcohol License tomorrow and will take it down to Morrisons, this enables them to authorise the release of alochol for retail sale.. all very complicated but necessary when you're holding a Charity event.

So there you have our day, nothing exciting to report. She's shocked by Annabelle and Charlie's deaths.. Charlie was in his late fifties and Annabelle was sixty three.

Love your beloved ones folks.. and scrub the kitchen from top to toe when you can't go out!

GeeGee Parrot.
August 20th, 2015.

OUR POSTMAN HAS BEEN POSTED..

Grrrrrr.. our much beloved postman, Alan, is leaving our round.. after 19 years! She has only ever had  three in the length of time she's had this home.. over 41 years. First there was David who was on this round for over twenty years and then Alan came.

Such a great guy, he knows who is who, where to leave stuff or who to leave stuff with. He is being transferred to Victoria Street.. so boring, just offices!

Apparently, according to Jim who is Alan's side kick, we are getting Big Russ from Pimlico. He's huge, tall and large and kind but it will take him many years to come up to Alan's level of competence.

Ah well.. nothing we can do.

So she went off to annoy the worms at the allotments and whom should she meet there? Why, none other than her friend who did not complete, aka finish, the job she paid him to do. He was, shall I say, slightly embarrassed and made all sorts of excuses, she wasn't having any of it and said "ok, well then you can finish it within the next two weeks which is when the allotment year starts" and there wasn't really anything he could say except "yes".

The ground is as hard as nails.. where did all that rain go? Bad year for garlic as the bulbs have been squeezed by the dry earth and not able to expand easily but onions are good.

Those pesky figs still are not ripe! There was one measly one, but not the basket load that she was expecting to bring home. Almost two weeks behind last year, fruit and the English weather! You never know what the season is going to be like.

Huge amount of apples off the trees.. she ate two windfalls and will pick the rest up on Saturday, she has to cut lavender and rosemary for anti moth use.

On Sunday, it is Malaysian Dumpling Day again at Marylebone's Farmer's Market, the last month has just flown by!

Nothing much to report, she had to stay awake last night because a friend of our upstairs neighbour was coming to stay for the night and we had the keys.. I gave up and went to bed, she set an alarm and dozed until it rang, so she was awake when they telephoned to say they had arrived at Victoria Station.

And she got up really early this morning.. at the hideous hour of half past five! Not me.. I was still in the land of Nod and not wanting to know anything about getting up so early.. half past five! She must have been ill! So consquently, she is a little frayed around the edges.

But she has made us a truly delicious supper, it was a third of a cup of Coarse Brown Bulgar Wheat, 500ml of water, 2 homemade chicken stock cubes, two cloves of garlic, seasoning, a small round courgette, a carrot, two mushrooms and for the last few minutes, she put in, and poached, a sliced up chicken breast. With big sloshes of ginger and garlic sauce, I love food like this.

It made a huge amount! So some is chilling and will be for our lunch tomorrow. She has to be here as the painters require all the windows and the front door to be left open all day.

Papers to read plus emails.. PipPip.. Dear Readers.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 19th, 2015.

SHE BUG-EYED.. IT'S NOT A GREAT LOOK.

When leaving the allotment last night she notice that her left eyelid was a bit sore but refrained from giving it a good rub or scratch and bathed it with Witch Hazel when she got home. There was a minute mark where some dastardly bug had sunk its' teeth into her.

Hohoho.. and what did I see when she got me up this morning? A swollen eyelid and a puffy cheek! So she ambled off to see a Pharmacist, who looked at my mum's eye and said "yes, it is a bite but I don't want to give you an anti-histamine as you're on Lanaprost for your Glaucoma" - see how nice it is to have people who know you and care!

"Go and get a couple of cucumbers, chill them and then put slices over your eye and cheek, that will make you feel much better" and home she came knowing there were two long cucumbers chilling in the fridge already.

And.. what a relief! Instantly the effect was very soothing, she looks a bit weird as she has it stuck to her cheek and eye but it is doing the trick!

Because of this, she stayed home today.. and put everything that was on top of her big dresser down onto the floor, took a duster and dusted it and all of her glass treasures and photos that are supposed to be the ONLY things on this dresser.

Several naughty things that had been lurking there were given a nasty rude shock! For if they didn't have a proper home, like a book or a cd, then they were given the elbow and put into a rubbish bag. Does stuff that shouldn't be ON your desk or dresser, let alone IN the house, sneak past you into your home?

There is now a big bag of .... in the hall waiting to go to the recycling depot tomorrow. Then she washed all her baking tims in the dishwasher, called a Rotary friend (who is an ACE baker) and told her she was going to receive a large, noisy bag tomorrow! They're far too good to throw away and she is not intending to make any bakes etc, so they're off to another baker!

The photo frames were given a dust and polish, as was her desk. Mr Bissell vacuum came out of the boiler cupboard and ate up everything, such a great machine, so much better than that stupid Dyson she put up with for all those years. This Bissell actually picks up everything first time and the sitting room carpet is off-white again, that stupid Dyson always left it as though it needed a wash!

More bids are coming in, there's a nice opening bid for £60.00 for the Gypsy tickets, £30.00 for Dear Lupin, there was a bid for £45.00 for the Champagne tea at Brown's but within a couple of hours she had received a higher bid for £60.00 and someone sold £60.00 worth of Raffle tickets this morning! So it's going well.

She's got a full-on busy day tomorrow, hopefully silly gnat bite will have subsided by then.

Pasta was for supper with steamed baby courgettes, chilli flakes and lean ham, it was a big pot of which she ate perhaps half, the rest is now in her lunch box in the fridge and will go out with her at midday.

Not a lot otherwise to report, luckily the VJ Celebrations went off without any 'incident', the forgotten army was what they were called, the war in Europe had ended with the German surrender but our boys and men  and everybody else's boys and men were still fighting in the Far East. Oi vey.

PipPip folks.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 16th, 2015.

IT BROKE ITS' NECK, SO SHE ATE IT!

Don't be alarmed folks.. read on.. She's just eaten the first reallyreally ripe Yellow Fig of 2015! Last year they were ripening as of August 6th but we are not surprised,this year for the weather has been decidedly iffy and these guys come from Cyprus! How or why they are nice enough even to grow in this country is a miraculous mystery BUT they do and are truly scrummydumptious.

She cut the grass, remember those briars she cut back in June, well, sadly they're all big again but at least this lot are not evil old ones and can be dealt with.. slash and burn will be the approach as that useless-so-called friend of hers never finished the job.. grrrr.

It was all a big messy mess BUT at least the thieving bastards hadn't nicked her pears, so she picked them herself, they're Doyenne de Comice and these are the first she's ever had off her own tree as the thieves have always managed to pick them before she could.

Then she ran out of strimmer wire.. grrr.. she's pretty sure that she took a new roll of it down there not so long ago, but find it, she could not. So she'll have to go via Wilco at Fulham Broadway tomorrow morning to pick up another roll.

Yes, there is much work to do and this weather is perfect for doing it, the rain we have had has loosened the soil so you can actually get a fork or spade into the ground. She has the wood with which to make the raised beds.

She just has to get stuck in and do it! Monday is a day for doing other stuff, she's going to see the management crew at Morrisons to discuss food and drinks that she needs for the barbecue on the 29th. She'll garden on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. That will make a dent in the list of what needs to be done and she must remember to get petrol for the strimmer.

Thursday is a stay at home day.. the painters need access to the exterior window frames and doors etc, so she has to be here in order for the front door and the windows to be open. Boring but necessar and we know there's always something to do at home, isn't there? Well, there is in ours!

We have had supper.. a large bowl of fusilli pasta with garlic, oil, herbs and spices, one of our most favourite pastas. Now it's paper reading time and catching up with bids that have come in today for the Silent Auction.

We are having an early night as she has to rock'n'roll tomorrow.. adios amigos.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 15th, 2015.
Aka VJ Day.

WISH WE HAD MORRISONS INSTEAD OF THAT MONSTROUS SAINSBURYS AT SANDS END WHICH IS HOPELESS. DREARY STORE, GRUESOME STAFF.. PRODUCE HALF DEAD.. SIGH.

Yes, I reallyreally do! For their staff are well trained, the shops are clean and the produce great. Why can't we have one of those stores instead of the endless mini other stores where everything is much more expensive and the produce.. NOT so great!

But as the title says.. her BIG hate is that OBSCENE Sainsburys at Sands End near to the Wandsworth Bridge Road.. it's useless. They've taken an amazing site and filled it with a pitiful store, the staff are badly trained, the produce half dead and it is not the cleanest place she's ever shopped (to put it politely).

But at least we have, thank goodness, our North End Road market, for what is not to like when you get 5 delicious Ruby Grapefruit for a £1.. $1.55? Or at the end of a day, 3 Honeydew Melons for a £1.00.

Ok, it is NOT a store and certainly some stalls produce are better than others but like all markets around the world, you look first and then you buy.

However, nothing beats Chinatown when it comes to green vegetables! How we jurst lurve Pak Choi! For lightly steamed and put into a bowl with Soya sauce, crushed, chopped garlic with grated ginger and maybe a poached egg on top.. slurp is what she says.. it makes a nutritious and tasty supper!

Boy oh boy.. what rain we have had! Hopefully lots of it has fallen on the allotments, for she plans to go there today, they've been neglected and she needs to do a huge amount of work to catch up on the weeds and to "do away" with the rest of those evil briars.

Our cherries are all of the much earlier varieties so we don't have any fruiting now but with these weather conditions, the English and Scottish Cherry crops are fantastic! She'll have to send Debbie Goat a message to ask her for lots with which to make everyone's favourite Christmas gift.. her homemade Kirsch with the secret ingredient!

No.. we are not that silly! So don't ask us what it is! I say that 'cos some.. no names will be told to save their faces.. silly folk actually asked her for it last year! Huh.. "go figure it out yourselves", was her reply.

Brrr.. cold and damp this morning.. I'm glad that I'm not going to the allotments but she must, so it's PipPip from me, I'm sorry this post is not full of exciting news but nothing of the exciting variety is happening in our life at the moment.

Except, of course, she is, in her own way, celebrating VJ Day - The end of war against the Japan. Seventy years. The Japanese Prime Minister has said some extraordinary things recently, only to be dismissed by several of his own troops who admit to having carried out various 'military actions' and for which they admit classifies themselves as war criminals.

So I'm going to doze on top of cupboard with old Beaky between my shoulder blades and she's got to be brave, climb into wet weather clothes.. TAKE the keys and trundle off in the rain to catch the bus to Chiswick.. rather her than me folks.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 15th, 2015.

WELL.. SHE GOT DRESSED TO GO OUT.. THEN OPENED THE DOOR!

To find a torrential rain storm storming down upon London and probably elsewhere as well!

So she rethought her day, took her Bond Street finery of, for that was where she had been planning to go, put everyday clothes on and started to pull apart the bathroom cupboard.

Some lucky person is going to receive a few pretty sweaters, if you garden like she does, you build up back and arm muscles and these pretty little things are too small for her. Then she sorted out the baskets of belts and gloves.

Tucked new lavender bags and bars of soap amongst the now tidy contents and shut the doors, did a load of washing, paid a bill on-line, made an appointment with her GP doctor and made us lunch.

And this, Dear Readers, is what she made me and it was very scrummydumptious and I suggest you make it as well as it extremely LOW in fattening things. Speedy Houmous is its' name and very speedy it is too!

You'll need the following.

Tin of boiled Chickpeas in water.
2 Cloves of Garlic.
Lemon Juice - 3 tbsn.
2 Tbsp of Fat Free Greek Yoghurt
Salt and freshly ground black Pepper.
Pinch of Smoked Paprika or Cayenne Pepper.
A liquidiser / food processor.

Method,

Put the rinsed chickpeas, chrushed garlic, lemon juice, and yoghurt into a food processor and pulse until fairly smooth but not TOO smooth.
Season with salt and pepper, add more lemon juice to taste and sprinkle with a pinch of HOT smoked paprika or cayenne pepper.

I love this as I am extremely partial to all of the things that are in it! She'll have it for her supper with raw vegetables.

Yesterday she went off to L'Oreal to have her colour done, the people were on their 'mock' final exam at the highest level of training. She had a young woman who was amazing! The teacher was thrilled with what she did to my mum's hair, she understood exactly what mum wanted and did it beautifully!

Yippee..

She's got happy news.. Tom and Bob, our very dear friends from NYC will be here in September for three days, they arrive on the 11th and leave on the 14th, she hasn't seen them since she was last in NYC in 2007 and I haven't seen them for TEN years!

What else have I got to report?

She's shrinking! Her actual skeleton is very small, think size four & a half feet, so she can carry too much weight and people think that she is a normal size, it is only when she is her normal weight that people suddenly go "WHAT!"

And no one has ever called her thin, except when she came out of hospital after the kidney operation forty years weighing seven and a half stone!

So here we are, the allotments are going glugglugglug and drinking up this rain, there are probably no figs on the trees.. those miserable thieving bastards and naughty birds have probably eaten the lot, but she'll be off on Saturday, dressed in rain survival gear, to see if there is any fruit to pick.

Much tidying to be done in the wreckage of our pretty sitting room.. several boxes of papers to be shredded, a pile of laundry to be ironed and put away. A pile of beautiful clothes that are no longer needed need to be taken to the Consignment Shop to be sold. It is only when she gets these type of clothes out that she thinks of how her life has changed so dramatically.

Lives change.. our's certainly has. Now she's going to dodge the deluging drops of rain and go to the Library. I'll cogitate my feathery tumtum, yes, I am no longer bald, you'll be pleased to hear.

Stay happy and healthy.. wherever you may be.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 13th, 2015.

BUT WHEN SHE GOT THERE.. HER POCKET WAS BARE! AND DROPPING THE BOMB ON JAPAN 70 YEARS AGO .

She had forgotten the keys for the allotment.. the journey had been hot, the traffic grim.. I wasn't there (thank goodness) so I am unable to tell you what she said, let alone thought of saying. So hey nonnie no, she crossed the road and waited another long while until a bus came along to bring her home.

Luckily, she had two pears in her basket and a large bottle of water, otherwise she might have lost the plot! Trundle trundle. along came a bus and nearly three hours after she had left, she arrived back at home.

We have just had lunch. She made a soup out of ginger and garlic and spices typical to Malaysian food, added chopped up scallions aka spring onions, pak choi and spinach, two small packets of glass vermicelli and topped that off with a small tin of tiny clams.

Slurp.. with chilli and ginger sauce and a good dollop of wheat free soya sauce, yes, it does exist but it is difficult to find. I ate some steamed vegetables, vermicelli and lots of fresh hummus.

We settled down to digest our lunch, to write this post and then she's going for a walk.. less said about the fresh yellow figs at the allotment, the better! She just hopes that those thieving bastards who nick her fruit will leave a few.

Busy week ahead of us, the builders are here still and she has to be here to give them access to the front door and the windows. Work to be done on getting rid of paperwork that she has kept for the requisite amount of years.

August 15th, the seventieth anniversary of VJ Day is fast approaching and there have been pictures in the papers of Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped.

Her thoughts are not with these cities.. instead they are with the American sailors who were incinerated at Pearl Harbor, the men of all nationalities who 'worked' in appalling Japanese Death Camps, the women of all nations who were treated as sex slaves and raped repeated, then bayoneted to death through their vaginas. Denys Yates, her parents friend, who was held for three years and returned broken.

Read the story of Admin Box and about the hospital that was over run by Japanese troops in which they slaughtered every single living person. This milly-molly-mandy press should get some facts and pictures of how prisoners died on the Death Railway. How tens of thousands of Chinese, Burmese, Indonesian, Philippine, Malasian and Indian people were slaughtered by the Japanese.

Thank God it was dropped.. for their cruelty towards all Prisoners of War of all nationalities, as was the Germans, was without doubt beyond humanity and to quote Rhett immortal words.. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn".

Read history..

GeeGee Parrot.
August 9th, 2015.

APOLOGIES.. WE'VE BEEN A BIT OFF THE POST WRITING PLOT.

Goodness me, how idle you must think we are, I haven't posted since my birthday and that was ages ago, or so it seems.

We've been busy.. she's nearly completed the list of Silent Auction and Raffle prizes and MIGHTY GREAT they are too! People have been incredibly generous and here's a taster of these Super Stars!

Stuart Johnson. General Manager of Brown's Hotel, London W1. Champagne Tea for two.
Value over £100.

Ally Clow, Curzon Cinema, Shaftesbury Avenue. Tickets for two.

'Still Alice' dvd plus an original cinema poster.

Kenny Wax. Apollo Theatre, Dear Lupin, Two individual tickets.

Savoy Theatre, Gypsy. Two individual tickets PLUS VIP package!
Staggering value of over £220!

Prince Charles Cinema Club. Lifetime Membership for two individuals.
Value £50 each.

Soho Joe. Dean Street, London W1. Dinner for two with Wine.

Pizza Express, Greek Street, W1. Dinner for two with drinks.

Private Donation. SNIPER dvd + Signed Photo of Sienna Miller.

Algerian Coffee Stores. Old Compton Street, W1. Voucher for £30.00.

Private Donation. The Lost Masters - Nazis plundering of Europe's Treasurehouses.
Signed by the author, 1st edition. This book generated George Clooney's film. The Museum Men

Private Donation. Microwave.

Private Donation. Rice Cooker.

Private Donation. Ten dvd's, a mixed bag of marvellous old classical films!

That is what she physically has.. there is more stuff coming in this next week from various sources.

We, correction, she is smaller but doubts whether she'll ever been a size FOUR again, so there's a massive amount of clothes going out of the front door. Can't wear them, let someone else enjoy them.

BUT, she is extremely happy that her exquisite Roman black leather loafers are more comfortable. Onwards or rather downwards she is going on the scales, upon which she gets once a week on a Monday.

The little Calamondin Oranges are happy in the bath! It makes having a shower a somewhat lengthy business as they have to come out so she can get in but they're safe from the builders, are sprouting new growth and one is covered in the most glorious flowers!

Bitter Orange flower perfume is called Neroli and it is one of the most treasured scents in the Perfume Industry. Our small bathroom smells just like a perfume shop!

So all is well.. as I hope it is with you? We are having a BIG tube strike here in London.. GRRR. Travelling has not bern easy for thousands of people. Grim to say the least. Luckily she's able to walk to and from most places she has had to go to.

Now she's got to finish the work she was doing in our bedroom.. I get to scream at the vacuum and fly about like a mad bird.. any excuse.. Dear Readers.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 6th, 2015.