HUH.. SHE 'SKIPPED' WEIGH-IN!

Talk about naughty! Talk about 'forgot' and took the wrong bus! Talk about being an SILLY (you'll see why later on) BAT and can only think of one thing.. Gardening! What about my reputation? Huh? Did I not promise you her latest score but what did I get? I got herself waltzing back here with old WW full to his brim with two massive Fig cuttings!

And she had apparently had the weirdest day out there! She lost her keys! Grimsville.. as there are more than a few on this bunch plus the all important allotment gate key without which you cannot get out of the place! Just as she thought she was truly dememted (!), she felt them, where were they? In the zipper pocket on the outside of her fleece, they had slipped through a tiny hole into the top lining of the jacket.

GRRR. She had wasted an hour hunting for them.. most certainly this qualifies her as being silly, this is the second time this has happened.. with the same bunch of keys.. hence 'silly' bat.

Moving swiftly along.. the ground is dry! There have been wicked winds and the top soil of all the beds is bone dry but hopefully, there will be rain tonight. It has been a grim Bank Holiday for most of those poor folk who don't have a garden or an allotment and took to the roads to get to somewhere pleasant.

A: The weather.. ugh, very dull and dismal and flippin' cold to put it politely. B: The traffic! There was a traffic  tailback on one of the major roads of 58 miles.

The allotments pay for themselves in more way than one, that's for sure!

This will be a short post as it is past midnight but she 'kept' me up as it were because she'd been out since 11.30am, only getting back at just after 7.00pm and she knew I'd probably been asleep for most of that time.

We had steak for supper.. yum! She had hers on a plate of fresh herbs, I had mine on top of chilly white larder with a slice of rye bread with sunflower seeds. Delicious stuff!

So there are these two big Fig cuttings sitting in the bathroom in old WW, I know your supposed to take cuttings when the tree is dormant but this way, Valerie for that is whom they are for, can strip the leaves off and take multiple cuttings off these two long cuttings, it will also show her the size of leaf etc.

The fig harvest off this particular tree is going to be a cracker this year! The fruits are already a huge size and there is a big amount of growth, within this next week, she will do her usual counting of three leaves on the new growth and snip the rest off, most people count four new leaves but she thinks that allows the tree to get too tall.

She has to also take cutting for herself this coming winter, it would be awful if Figgy died, for he is a rare (to the UK variety) variety, the flesh is translucent and like runny honey when fully ripe and it tastes like honey too, the skin starting off green, ending up yellow when ripe. The fruits don't travel at all well as they're too fragile.. best eaten straight off the tree! Two bites.. slurp.

The original tree came into the UK as a cutting, a very long, long time ago from Cyprus and she was given this cutting by Adam, an allotment friend, back in the early days, circa 2003 or 2004.

Goodness me! It's nearly 1.00am! Action stations.. it's bed time for both us dollies. She has to find a group to weigh-in with or she might just creep off in leggings and a t.shirt under a coat to Boots, strip down and stand on their electronic scale.. then I'll give you the 'score'.

I have no idea what it will be.. is she thinner? Who knows, her face certainly is, she doesn't look like a hamster at all these days ! And there is a sharp line above her hips, I think humans call this a waist, yes, she's got certainly got one of those and it's pretty small, as are her hips.

PipPip.. Zoom into my night cage I must go before I turn into a pumpkin.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 31st, 2016.

BREAD BEHIND & CAKES TO HER LEFT BUT NOT A CRUMB IN HER MOUTH!

Has it sunk in! Another day of not a crumb passing her lips! Blimey, this is a bit weird, not a single forbidden morsel has been swallowed since May 19th.. and she's recently carried out an interesting medical experiment upon herself.

Hypoglycaemia is low blood sugar.. so she cleansed her system, then added some carbohydrate and got the 'sugar' rush.. some people are more susceptible to carbohydrates than others, she is highly sensitive.

The other interesting fact is that her mood is much brighter and more positive if she stays away from them as much as possible. Her GP and she, after she was tested, were talking about the chronic situation of obesity and the fact that young people are getting all sorts of mental health problems and usually, it is discovered that the majority of these youngsters are overweight / eating food extremely high in sugar.. and the shocking rise of diabetes amongst the young.

Sugar has all sorts of effects on the body and NONE of them are good.

She had such a nice surprise today, she bumped into an old friend at the market at Parsons' Green and Millie appeared.. with a bag of Red Shallots and some Malaysian onion sets for her to plant! She'll do that tomorrow as weigh-in is early because of the Bank Holiday and as long as the buses are behaving themselves, she'll go straight on to the allotments to plant them.

She brought the grass trimmer home last night in WW, he (WW) creaked a bit.. a lot.. but they got home safely and today she gave the trimmer to Debbie Goaty Mum to give to David.. aka Master Machine Engineer.. because its' been making the most gruesome "crrchunk" noise and she knows that David will be able to fix it.

IshPol was given over and in return, Debbie gave her the most divine fermented red cabbage with a hint of ginger! Plus some fermented seeds.. Huh.. we want to know how to make this! It is truly very scrummydumptious! I must sit on her head and bake it so she gets an idea of how and what they do.. it's not a salt fermentation, she thinks it is is possibly lemon and ..., so it's the ... she's got to work on finding out what it is!

Summer starts on June 1st, this is next Wednesday. Yesterday she worked most of the day cutting grass and hand weeding in a cotton camisole, today she had that on, plus a cashmere sleveless top, a merino wool cardigan, a fleece and then a rain jacket.. but her ears were cold.

The weather in France is 'playing' up, there was a terrifying storm over Paris yesterday and lightening struck a tree in the Parc Monceau, several children who were sheltering underneath it were very badly injured.. and if you factor in the French Petrol strike, I think there'll be a lot of VERY unhappy campers this weekend in Northern France. Poor families.. the children were at a birthday party.. oi vey.

Oh.. there you have our week. She's been veryvery busy at the allotments playing catch-up, beastly briar has yet to meet his hideous end because the mattock she needs is in Little Tool Shed and that, I regret to tell you, is invisible, let alone get-at-able! With that burst of hot weather followed by rain, beastly briar has doubled in size! She feels like taking a flame thrower to it! Oh, what a good idea!

For somewhere amongst everything in the back room.. (oh no).. she's got one of those! A gas fired flame thrower! Now, if I let her go in there, I'm going to tie a rope to her waist because it's a-hell-of-a-mess-in-there! If she fell over, I'll never see her again, yes, it's that bad!

But.. there are wondrous things to report.. every single peony plant is strutting herself, either in just about to bloom from a huge bud or budding, or growing taller! She grows the three varieties, early, mid and late season. The very-over-the-top going to be cut back most severely Clematis Montana 'Mayleen' is in full flower, the perfume spreading over the whole space, just glorious.

Sensational 'Sensation', her American bi-coloured lilac is in flower, such a prettypretty lilac and all of the roses, oh, glory be, the roses this year are breathtaking. Ellen, Compassion, Gloire de Dijon, Prince William, Joro, Margaret Merill and last but certainly not least..

There's a rose about which she knows a huge amount, the birth of this rose is a tale of courage and bravery. I will post it and you'll recognise the name but you'll also have a massive shock but that's a secret, you'll have to wait for her to tap it on iPad.

But not today! She's got a very BIG piece of salmon 'resting' on a plate with dill and black pepper permeating the flesh. Rumanian Dill, the very BEST there is! She'll have it with IshPol.

PipPip folks.. PipPip.. I'll give you her weight tomorrow.. for there's no such thing as losing weight in privacy by herself is there, I mean, you lot know to the very ounce what she weighs! Poor old bat.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 28th, 2016.

CHISWICK HOUSE.. What a magnificent place to play 'hookie'.

The sun was shining, all was well in the 'woodshed' and she had work to do at the allotment, She put together a light collation of edible goodies, a bottle of iced water, the Jardine novel, they went into a small hand basket, Beaky received a kiss and off she went.

Upon travelling for nearly an hour and only one bus stop away from her stop, the following occured to her.. she'd forgotten her allotment keys.. action stations! She rang the bell and leapt off little bus in Burlington Lane.

She actually thought about catching another bus to start the lengthy journey home in order to get the forgotten gate and multiple shed keys (total of four) but instead, had the most brilliant idea.

Lunch, novel and book were in her bag, she was going to have a proper picnic and she was wearing a pair of black bikini knickers and a cotton camisole over a black bra.. why are these items of clothing being mentioned?

Well, the entrance to one of Londons' gems was three steps away on Burlington Lane. Chiswick House with its' famous grounds. She was part of the volunteer team back in 2005 that started the restoration of the kitchen garden and loves this place.

She turned in through the gates, walked up the Neo-Palladium building, which was never built as a house for living in but as an art gallery and for entertainment in the late 1700's. Turning right at the 'house', she walked up to the restaurant, bought a coffee, spent a penny and headed for the area just outside the brilliantly designed and large childrens' play area.

Shoes and top clothes came off, the fleece, that she had put into the basket to wear if she came home late, was stretched out as something to sit upon, she ate lunch, then settled down to spend time in the sunshine reading the latest 'Bob Skinner' novel.

What do you do if you get a 'Lemon'? Why, you make 'Lemonade'! This is / was such a glorious place to play hookie. Chisick House, Burlington Lane. Do a search and see for yourself where she spent those three happy hours in the sunshine.

Sunshine and her. She makes people a bit miffed, it's not something she really has any say in / control over and it's almost certainly to do with her heritage, for Constance was exactly the same, if she is in the sunshine for a couple of hours, she goes brown. Not pink.. she starts at pale brown.. progresses to mid brown.. ends up nut brown. Magohany nut brown.. and then it fades away.

'Keys, I must remember the keys' was her first thought upon waking this morning at.. gulp.. 05.30! I could not believe it when she sneaked out of the bedroom and came back with the earliest ever mug of LapySang! 'Huh, I'm not getting up yet', I thought, 'not even for amber-nectar'.

But it's now past 08.30am and we're writing the post, you'll be happy to hear she's on her second mug of LapySang, it's hot and so I've just started my day with four Beakfuls of this tasty tea.. ahhhh.. All is well in our world, as we trust it is in yours as well.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 27th, 2016.

QUINTIN JARDINE'S NEW BOOK 'PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS'.

Huh.. I pity anyone wanting to get any response or sense out of her in the next couple of days, for she found the latest Quentin Jardine novel at the library today and with the nesting that's going on at the moment in our bedroom, reading light being pulled closer, glasses on, pillows being thumped and pulled into the comfiest position, etc it looks as if she might start reading it tonight.

It's a Bob Skinner novel, no, I am not about to explain myself. Off you go to your library and find the books but I do suggest that you start at the beginning of the series.

I broke the kitchen scales. Bad Beaky gave them a nudge and they flew down from the top of the fridge, crash landed on the hard floor and made the most almighty racket, it made her jump into the next, if not the one after, week but I put claw in Beak for I thought it such fun, I giggled.. in her laugh.. and got the dirtiest look and a digit waved infront of Beaky.

She also muttered something about 'docking my pocket money', huh, a chance would be a fine thing, I DON'T get 'pocket' money!

Anyway, as she always needs scales, off she went, via the library, to get another set, to Wilko on the Fulham Broadway, an excellent shop, she found exactly the set she wanted at £10.00 less than in John Lewis, most gratifying.

Summer is due to start next Tuesday.. huh.. she has to do work at the allotment tomorrow, which is Thursday, unless she wins a fortune tonight on Lotto. In which case, she'll find hire three of the BIGGEST guys possible to come and 'deal' with that 'f'ing' briar which is a monster!

But somehow, knowing our luck gambling, I don't think it's a 'cert'! So Thursday, Friday and Saturday are gardening days and because I am veryvery stupid I can't go with her yet as it isn't warm enough for a daft parrot who took her clothes off.

She is seeing Valerie on Tuesday, June 1st for her six weekly treatment and is giving her a cutting (or two) of our very rare Translucent Fig, she'll take the cutting on Saturday and get it ready to take with her to Romford.

Fifth Sunday of the month equals Parson's Green Farmer's Market.. but will Millie find it? Simon and Cornelia will, for it's their usual market and where they buy their meat for the week.

Much to do as always, there are now fruit bushes and trees to cover up from pesky fruit pinching birds but she won't be going there on Sunday after the market, she'll want to get her Goaty dairy produce back into our chilly white larder asap!

The June drop has already started, she's such a softie for she always feels so sorry for those tiny little fruits to which their mother tree says "no, you're not to grow". Unwanted babies.. "girl up mum, stop being so daft about a minute apple / cherry / pear, whatever next?"

Bank Holiday this Monday coming on May 30th. Weigh-in happening between 12.00 -13.00 hrs.

If I don't get back to you before then, you now know why, it's because she's busy on the plots and I'm probably fast asleep on top of cupboard waiting for her to come home.. that is as long as the 'British weather' isn't doing its' usual Bank Holiday nonsense, in which case, we'll be lolling about in bed reading books and chatting with friends.

We will just have to take what it gives us.. PipPip.. ChirpChirp!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 25th, 2016.

THAT WASN'T SHABBY, A LOSS OF..

Well, she wasn't expecting a big, if any loss after eating THE biggest ever plate of penne with chicken breast & vegetables in a cream sauce on Wednesday PLUS everything that she swallowed (like a gannet) at the memorial party on Thursday.

But she did.. she's lost a further 1.5lbs, bringing her total loss to 2.5 stone.. aka 33lbs.. she's now weighing 9 stone, 8 & 1/2 lbs. That, Dear Readers, makes her hips, knees and ankles veryvery happy. Let alone her cheek bones, who are seeing the light of day for the first time since about 2009!

Today was a pretty lazy day around here, she had thought about going onto the allotment after weigh-in but the sky turned black over Hammersmith and as she wasn't really dressed to deal with briars, weeds or cold weather, she came home and woke up me up.

I was having a very pleasant doze on top of the big cupboard listening to LBC, when she suddenly appeared like a genie underneath Beaky, blimey, she made me jump. She then disappeared into YumYum HQ with a bag, full of I didn't know what. So had to flapflap my way in there to see what was going on.

Interesting things appeared, a 2 litre water tank with a tap, a water carrying bottle with an inner tube that she filled with water and popped into the freezer.. (note to herself to go and get a few more of these as they're very well designed), two packets of zip lock bags, two birthday cards and a packet of padded envelopes, a piece of sirloin steak and a fat piece of calves liver.. yum.

The steak she has put into a dish and covered with herbs and spices, it'll sit in chilly white larder for a couple of days as I know we are eating fish tomorrow. Liver was put into the frosty larder for another day.

She took her lunch with her to weigh-in today, shrimp on lettuce, cucumber and spring onions in a spicy sauce. Supper, for both of us, was chicken breast meat sliced into small pieces and poached in chicken stock with mushrooms and onions. Eaten on a large plate of two different types of lettuce with spring onions.

She had an extremely nice surprise at weigh-in! Pat said "I know your birthdays coming up soon and I don't want to miss it" and handed her a package. Now being who and what she is.. incurably nosy.. she had to see what was in it and asked Pat is she could open the package and got the nod.. oh!

A charming waxed bag with clever pockets and inside were two of the prettiest nighties, "the nighties are from my daughters" said Pat "and we thought the bag would be useful for the allotment". She's such a honey-bunch this woman.. so her "Thank you" hug to Pat was huge! Good thing Pat likes crystallised ginger, 'cos that'll be just up her street as a 'Thank you' present!

Tomorrow is a busy day! She has to collect something from an old restorer friend, she has done a favour for an old client, so has to deliver it to him, change books at the library, go to the post office to post a registered package to Patrick in Marlow, collect from and take stuff to the dry cleaners, yes, finally, she thinks it is safe enough to have her long winter coat cleaned and put away until the Autumn!

And she will be gardening for the rest of the week until 1.00pm on Friday.. but I'll tell you about that nearer the time, I am off to Beak a Walnut half or two and she's got to finish this scary book she's reading before she returns it and lots of other books to the library.

Chirp.. to you all.. esprcially to Karen, whom we had NO idea was a twitcher.. aka bird watcher! We've seen you Miz Karen.. we also thought you had a funny hat on as well!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 23rd, 2016.

FRIDAY WAS NEXT AND MONDAY IS TOMORROW!

Friday.. She had two medical appointments almost back to back so we again rose with the larks and had a cheesy omelette.. slurp.. then she washed, dressed and left the house. To return smartly on the dot of midday. She made us a light snacket, we love cold salmon in our house and she ate it on a huge pile of lettuce and cucumber. With lashings of Malaysian Chilli & Ginger sauce!

Then at 2.00pm she kissed me and left the house but this time in what were obviously gardening clothes and boots. Dean, an old driver of hers, was outside in his estate car, he was also dressed for the plot as they were bound for Homebase to get an enormous roll of the heaviest duty roofing felt.

Yes, it was re-roofing Little Shed day, Dean had brought a tall step ladder in the car. Whoosh out to Homebase. Goodie, the heavy duty stuff was on special offer, making sure it was longest length available, she paid and they drove onto the allotments.

She had cut back all the briars which grow behind Little Shed and, luckily, the day and night before had been dry, so the roof wasn't wet. They cut out the damaged bit, measured the length of the roof plus a good over-hang at each end and with Dean up the ladder, he's the tallest of these two, and her passing up the new sheets of felt, the job was done in no time at all. Little Shed is now waterproof for another few years.

Dean sat in the sun and they chatted, she did a veryvery quick strim, picked him some asparagus, then he gave her a lift back onto the A316. For she was tired, it had been a busy long week and dark clouds were gathering over Kew.

She got home at about 6.30pm, we had supper and went to bed. There were papers to read and emails to catch up with, there were sweet emails from people with whom she had chatted at Angelas' do.

Muriel and she have arranged to go to the British Library to see the Lewis Carrol exhibition and they'll have lunch in the Libray's Friend's Room.

Saturday.. food and shopping day! All highly successfully! A call from BUB.. what a lovely surprise!

Today.. fourth Sunday of the month = Marylebone Farmer's Market. Meeting Millie at Debbies. She never made it.. she obviously had not the faintest clue of where Marylebone High Street is and mis-read mum's text, she thought the market went on until 5.00!  Daft dolly!

But shock..horror! For mum said in quite a brave voice "I'm not having dumplings today", apparently the look on Debbie's face was brilliant! But when Debbie went to get her dumplings, the cupboard was bare, there were no vegetarian dumplings to be had!

Instead, these two gluttonous whippets found a stall selling fermented vegetables, like garlic with dill! I am not suggesting that this will EVER replace the place that IshPol, from Bartek, has in these two women's hearts but it wasn't shabby! Lovely gifts of cheese and a bottle of pure Cherry juice plopped into WW.

Then she left the market to wend her way upto Oxford Street and to catch a 137 bus up to Streatham Hill, for someone had alerted her to the fact that Lidl had a special offer on somethings she wanted! And, yes, there was one left! She added a bag of walnuts for me and some white clothes washing liquid for her.

Onto Bartek.. two pots of IshPol, a bag of Sauerkraut, some slices of delicious ham and a packet of mushroom stock cubes and onto a 319 bus to bring her home. Another early supper and into bed, I don't mind. I have her captive under my toes as it were, she taps iPad whilst I dictate from upon her head.

Monday tomorrow and you'd have to be a veryvery new Dear Reader not to know what happens on Mondays! Yes, weigh-in at 13.00hrs. I'll let you know what the score is! It should be amazing as she hasn't eaten anything off list, she's taken exercise, drunk plenty of water and her 'insides' are behaving themselves.

So there we are.. another week to go and it will be Summer in the City.. where the girls are so pretty! Let's hope that weather realises Summer is supposed to be made up of three months of beautifully sunny and warm days.. huh.. she ain't taking any bets on this folks!

Goodnight.. farewell and all the rest.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 22nd, 2016.

A VERY BUSY WEEK.. BUT ALL IS WELL!

Lordly LuLu.. where did this last week go! It went ZOOM to Zoom.. wherever Zoom is!  Let's start quickly at the start of it on..

Monday @ 13.00 hrs.. Weigh-in.. gulp Lost 4lbs.. yippee.

Tuesday @ 09.00hrs.. she sneaked off to Boots to weigh herself! How naughty can she be! But she was rewarded with a loss of another lb.. making her total loss of.. wait whilst I count this up.. 32.5lbs! Well, that ain't shabby, is it?

Wednesday @09.30hrs. She was dressed and out of the house like a greyhound out of the trap! Woosh, underground to Stratford via Piccadilly & Central lines, out of one train, stayed on the same platform and almost straight onto an overland train to Romford.

Ah.. now Romford is an interesting town, it is full of surprising things to look at and it is where Valerie Ann has her salon / treatment centre. She was there to meet up with the Jenners who were driving in from Pewsey as Michele was having an aromatheraphy session with Valerie and Peter and she were going to have lunch and 'mooch' about as old friends do.

Having perambulated slowly up the pedestrian high street and drunk some excellent coffee at a small hold in the wall aka tiny coffee bar, she whizzed under the underpass and made her way to the salon. Squeezed through the 'cat flap' (joke) and sat quietly waiting for the Jenners to arrive.

Michele in for treatment.. Pete and she off out to scoff food and chat.. Blimey, those two can talk! The hindlegs of four donkeys, they went into a pasta joint, ate LARGE plates of spaghetti Carbonara for him and penne with vegetables for her and didn't get to the Havering Museum!

Back to collect Michele, the Jenners left and she stayed to chat with Valerie and Emma, her daughter. (We've yet to hear how Michele found her aromatherapy treatment).

Then off to get food from the market butchers.. a very 'nice' piece of rump steak, beautifully trimmed by a proper master butcher.. yum. Then back on to the train and whoosh.. home to me. It had been a long day and the weather drizzled, she hoped it wouldn't be drizzly on Thursday as it was the day of Angela's memeorial service.

Thursday @ 07.30hrs. Sun was shining through our window and she said "lovely day GeeGee, just the sort of day that she loved" and we were up and starting our day. She had allowed plenty of time to get dressed, do her hair and face.. then.. shock.. horror.. in response to two requests for a photo of herself with her 'new' hair and weight-loss.. she took a SELFIE! And, updated.  her FaceBook page!

A very sleek car came on the dot of 1.45pm, driven by one of her favourite drivers.. how nice to see him again. And they slid off to St.Peters Church in Bethnal Green, this was Angelas' Parish Church and is quite beautiful.

Like a hot knife through butter her clever driver avoided the gruesome traffic jams in the city and she arrived in very good time with not a hair out of place and calm.. you do not need to be frazzled on the day you are saying "farewell" to a beloved friend.

A loving service.. She remained completely dry eyed as knew that Angela was at peace and out of pain. She felt exactly the same feeling as when she had been at the funeral and memorial services for Hay darling, Madge darling and Miss Betty. Grateful that she had been priviledged enough to have had these three incredible women in her life who brought, and taught, her the meaning of joy.

At the end of the service, she turned and there, sitting behind her, was Julia.. oh dear.. what a mess. Poor love, she had completely lost the plot and was sitting alone in floods of tears with not a tissue or hanky in sight!

"Why did I wear black" were her first words, "I came in and saw a slim blonde sitting in a pretty lilac and white suit and I thought, whoever she is, she's got it right, she's celebrating her friendship and remembering Angela in exactly the right way and now I see it's you".

"But what have you done? You've shrunk ..., I only saw you last Christmas, you had a brown bob and were a different shape".. mum smiled as she handed over a packet of tissues and got out of the pew, "come along sweetie, let's go to Isabelle and I'll tell you all about it".

They stopped and gathered Martin as well, he was sitting several pews back looking as if he had been run over by a truck.. a sad face, she bent down and kissed his cheek and said "Martin, it's ..., this is not good, come with Julia and me", he looked up and smiled through his tears.. "you're so right, yes, let's go, for she's not here" and with that, they wiggled their way through to Columbia Road.

Where Isabelle was throwing the most marvellous party! "Hola guapa" she cried as she clasped my mum to her ample chest.. and it was PARTY TIME! Such happy squeaks as people remet friends or heard wonderfully stories, she sat with Muriel, Angelas' book keeper, and, oh, they laughed so much.

Then through the restaurant window, she saw a mans face.. she turned to a young, very pretty young woman who was sitting just beside her and said "Excuse me, do you know who that is?" The dark haired woman said "yes ..., it's Carl and I am Sherry .. with black hair".

My mum nearly fainted on the spot! For some twenty five years ago.. Carl and Sherry had been two naughty little eleven year olds who helped Angela in the shop, they packed perfumes, helped made pot pourri and kept the shop tidy on Sundays. She had spent lots and lots of happy afternoons with them.

"And you're a copper, Angela told me you had joined the force, where are you based?" Sherry smiled and said "you ain't going to believe this ..., I am a licensed gun carrier and I work on .........  and I also grew a bit" and with that she stood up! And the group of women squealed at the sight of mum's face as their 'Little Sherry' is now over six foot!

She said "I'll be back" and went out to the big group of guys sitting on the pavement. She sneaked up behind Carl and winking at Martin, said in a stage whisper said "Who am I Carl.. who loves you".. he turned round.. his face in shock.. then jumped to his feet, picked her up, and swung her around!

Much to the absolute amazement of some of the other men who didn't have the faintest clue who she was! She heard Martin explain who she was and heard "took her to Valerie in February". Well! What joy.. what utter joy and then it was completed.. for Sherry and Julia had come and joined them.

This page isn't long enough  to tell you what happened during the rest of this extremely happy occasion.. suffice to say.. Isabelle did her, Angela, proud.

She walked off to catch a bus home and realised.. she had forgotten her Freedom Travel Pass! Gulp. And they don't take cash on buses any longer. But listen to these two acts of kindness..

She got on a 55 bus to Oxford Circus and said to the driver "I haven't got my Freedom Passs and I have just been to  this memeorial service, I have a £10.00 note and a credit card, what do I do?" , he smiled and said "welcome aboard Miss".. MISS!!, she hasn't been called miss for years, she must wear lilac and white more often!

Next off this bus and onto a 137.. where exactly the same thing happened. And so she got home safely and now I've got to stop as it is getting on and she's meeting Debbie and Millie at 12.00am! But I'll back with more of what happened last week.. because I haven't finished yet! PipPip..

GeeGee Parrot.
May 22nd, 2016.

LAZY LENS.. LYING IN THE SUN.. HOW YOU GONNA GET YOUR DAYS' WORK DONE?

I forgot to tell you.. oh.. she's SO reallyreally veryvery happyhappy (no exaggeration), for what did she find on the table outside Little Shed? Constance's sunglasses! They were just lolling about in the sunshine and hadn't got a scratch.. which is especially good as they are now fitted with her own prescription and cost a fair bit of money, even though it was Margaret who did them for her.

So that was more than enough to put a smile on the face of my Metal Tiger.. her Chinese astrological sign.

What other good news do we have for you? She had to go to the audiology dept to get new batteries for her hearing aids and then onto Primark, where she found Millie, new Malaysian gardening chum, and herself two great hats in Primark for £3.00 each. They've both got brims but are squashable so they can be, and probably will be, shoved into a basket and dragged about with no fear of damage.

Then onto see Dr. Katherine to tell her the good news about 'cracking' being 'stuck at the 9 stone 11lbs' weight, she had said that she wanted to see the book so had taken it with her and showed it to her and heard, to her horror, " but you aren't 5'7", you haven't been that for a couple of years, get over onto those electronic scales and stand up straight".. you DON'T mess with Dr. Katherine, she's well over six foot!

To hear "Just as I thought.. you're only just over five foot five inches (167cm), so your target weight needs to be adjusted. But I am thrilled for you and so too must be your knees, let alone your hips and back, keep up your good work and come back to me in about two months time".

She caught a bus immediately to the North End Road and headed for Dickinsons, our lubbly-jubbly butchers.. for now, she was badly in need of a treat! And Andy was cutting slices of it as she entered the shop.. "Cut me a slice too please but make mine a big fat one", she said, he was cutting steaks and steak was what she thought would do the trick for OUR supper, if you think I'd let her eat a whole steak by herself, then you're obviously a very new Dear Reader!

Some light bulbs and more soda crystals to replenish our stock were added to WW, along with a couple of bunches of fat red radish.. crunchy and hot! The perfect snacket for tomorrow together with a BabyBel cheese to eat on the train at 11.00am.

Train? Where's she going? Don't worry folks, she only going up to Romford, she's introducing Michele Jenner (Pewsey) to Valerie Ann Worwood and Michele has an aromatheraphy treatment at 12.30am tomorrow, Peter and she will go off into the town, eat deliciously unusual things and visit the museum.

A quick trip for her, onto the underground, straight through to Stratford, off the train, wait for the next one on the same platform and whoosh.. straight through to Romford.. easy peasy.

Car booked for Thursday to take her to Bethnal Green, she is NOT about to fiddle about with buses and the underground to go to her darling Angela's memorial celebration service and then onto the do at her favourite restaurant.. not dressed up to the nines she's not, that's for sure!

But what is that I have just heard? The whoosh of the boiler. Yes, folks, foul weather is forecasted for tomorrow and tonight will be no more than.. are you ready for this.. 5 degrees! Gulp! That's a bit chilly-billy, isn't it? Our asparagus will be keeping its' nose well below ground if it has any sense.

If it is grim, cold and wet, on Thursday she has alternative plans of what to wear.. she also pulled out a beautiful lilac and white suit.. Chanel used the fabric a couple of years ago.. she loves it, it fits like the proverbial glove and would be warmer than a glazed cotton dress and jacket, that's for sure!

So we are all set.. we are having an early night for she's getting up at 'Sparrows' tomorrow in order to have a 'full breakfast' in her tummy and be on a through train to Essex early as she'll be talking to Valerie about other stuff before the Jenners arrive.

PipPip.. more tomorrow!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 17th, 2016.

I'M BACK.. AND SHE'S LOST.. AN AMOUNT WORTHY OF A DRUM ROLL!

We 've had a 'strange' week here in deepest Knightsbridge, veryvery strange indeed.  Let me begin at the beginning because you all know that's my favourite place to start a tale!

She replied to Kate upon the subject of Angela dying, then went to her big walk-in clothes cupboard. She was saying "please let me be small enough to wear it" and so I hopped onto the cupboard door as WHO knew what she was talking about!

AH.. yes, this makes perfect sense. When Darling Hay, her much beloved aunt, died in 2003, only her sons and grandchildren were at the funeral but a massive memorial service and party to celebrate her life was held two months later.

In that time span of two months, she had a dress and jacket made especially for the occasion. Of glazed cotton, the background is black and the print is a riot of colour with: Wisteria, poppies of all different colours and roses, both jacket and dress are lined in Scapparelli Pink!

We both held our breath as she undid the zipper of the cloth bag it has lived in for thirteen years. She climbed into the dress and pulled it up, it slid over her hips, she did up the zip - it has a low scooped out back - she looked up at me with wet eyes and a big smile and said "Oh GeeGee, it fits, now let's pray for a sunny day".

For what could be more fitting to wear to her much beloved friends' funeral / memorial / wake than a pretty item of clothing in a fabulous fabric. Angela will appreciate this, her love of textiles and design being legendary. With that sorted, she got out the shoes and handbag that she will be using and put them on the floor beside where the dress bag is hanging.

And off she went to the garden.

Silly Billy Me.. I can't go with her yet, having taken most of my clothes off. I am, therefore, subject to sun and wind and have to stay at home until my feathers grow back. You'll be pleased to hear that in the last week, yes, it is a week since we lasted posted on my blog, a huge amount of my big top feathers have re-appeared! But it is my small fluffy ones that are the important guys, for they stop me being cold. They are my 'thermals'.

She has spent the mornings with me and then left at abour 1.00pm to go to the garden. Little shed is immaculate! He would be more immaculate if she could put most of the stuff back into Tool shed but silly old briar is still in residence and she cannot get at his door.

There was one day when she was stuck there for much longer than she wanted to be. She forgot to take a jacket and RAIN and WIND rode into town! Whoosh, they descended upon Kew and Chiswick for several hours! The asparagus grew tall and strong before her eyes.. alas and alack so did weed and briar.. but soil was very happy as it had been dry for a week.

However, she was stuck inside little shed! So washed plates and glasses, put them into a clean bucket and put it on the small table outside, kind rain rinsed them twice, then she dried and polished them! Waste not! Eventually there was a lull in the storm, she locked the door and made a dash for the gate, getting home very late!

Having gained the disgraceful amount of 2 lbs at the weigh-in on May 11th after being away in Pewsey where she ate bread and cereal, will she never learn, she wasn't having anymore of THAT nonsense! Someone said recently to her "that as you got older it's better to have a bit of weight on your arse to stop your face looking haggarded".

Well, her face isn't haggarded and she's NEVER had a fat arse but you all know she has a dodgy knee (as a result of contracting Polio aged 6) and does not intend to have a 'problem' with it as she gets older, so is doing something about it now.

Having started on June 29th, 2015 at half a lb off 12stone, 167.5 lbs to be precise, she's on a mission to lighten the load on her knees with the full backing of her supportive GP, Dr. Katherine, who has all of her medical notes dating back to January 1954!

In this last week, she has eaten three proper meals a day with snacks of fat free yoghurt. She's drunk a minimum of 3 x 500ml bottles of homemade 'lemon' water each with an added teaspoonful of magnesium citrate every day besides other fluids, she's walked a lot at high speed and done a lot of work at the allotments.

She resisted wolfing down slices of the most delicious cakes and brownies from her Rumanian friends at the Parson's Green Farmer's Market on Sunday AND the offer of several delicious loaves of Sourdough bread from Olivers' Bakery!

So you'll be as pleased to know as Cassandra, Pat and Katy and the rest of her group were, yesterday when she got on the dreaded scales at weigh-in and they recorded a loss in one week of.. drum roll please.. FOUR LBS!

YUBBA-DUBBA.. as Barney Flintstone would say! 9stone and 10lbs.. aka 136lbs.

As Katy said to her in group "hey, you're in sight of target, what did you do differently last week?" So she told them and all the 'old timers' - aka known as people who have maintained their weight-loss for several years - nodded their heads and smiled.

None of these men and women have had gastric surgery or face lifts, what they have done was go about facing their, in some times, massive weight with the commitment to loose the lbs and keep them off. It takes determination and hard work to make and keep this commitment to YOURSELF.

Let me tell you, Dear Readers, she hasn't done it for anyone else except herself and poor dodgy knee. And with the help of Emma, her very secret secret, she has very few lines upon her face, absolutely not one on her cleavage AND has a small arse! Which wear, with ease, Lee jeans size 4 American.. aka 8 UK.

And now, Dear Readers, we are heading for YumYum HQ.. she has a fancy for two eggs, bacon and mushrooms and I 'quite' like the idea of a soft boiled egg with a side order of hummus.

'The sky is blue, the sun is 'ris.
I wonder where the birdee is?
Some people say the bird is on wing.
But that's absurd.
For the wing is on the bird'.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 17th, 2016.

A DISJOINTED & DISCOMBOBULATED DAY.. WITH THE DRAIN UNBLOCKERS DOING THE WRONG DRAIN..

OI VEY.. This idiot drain clearing service have told the managing agents gross porky pies, they said "we were there at 11.00am and cleared the drain".. well, she 'begs' to differ.

Because at 11.00am, she was standing outside our front door talking to a builder from next door, the little drain is still blocked and on top of that, the drain cover has broken and you cannot get it out, except with brute force, to clear out said drain with the necessary suction and power hoses.

So there! Fiddle the diddle.. these companies don't half get her back up sometimes, they're beyond stupid.. not to mention lazy beyond belief.. grrr. Goodness knows where they think they were at 11.00am but it wasn't at our house, clearing out our drain, that's for sure!

Rant over..

It was a 'stupid' day, she feels as if she has been punched in the head with the news of Angela dying, the weather was gruesome, hot and muggy and veryvery wet.. she had to take books back to the library and that was when she discovered the loss of her prescription sunglasses.

They are nowhere to be found.. grrr.. veryvery grrr as they were ancient, they had been her mothers' sunglasses bought in the late fifties in Rome and she took them to Margaret, her lovely optician in Hackney, who changed the lenses from Constance's prescription to hers.

So you 'might' say she's slightly sentimental about them! She's hoping that she has left them in little shed for there's no sign of them here at home.

She had run out of clothes washing liquid and other cleaning materials and had to catch a bus to Lidl at Clapham Junction, the traffic in both directions was beastly and then it started to pour with tropical rain just when the bus pulled to its' last stop beside Peter Jones.

When she was leaving to go to the library, she'd sent the managing agents another photo of the blocked drain and had received an email back saying "But Kiwi Drains say they've done the drain.. blah blah blah", so you can imagine her frame of mind when she came down out stairs, peered into the drain only to see the blackage still there.. obviously, the idiots had not done the right drain!

Don't bother to watch this space, it will only make you daft or mad.. but she is going to have to practise restraint of tongue and pen tomorrow, for how can some people be so incredibly stupid?

GeeGee Parrot.
May 11th, 2016.

DEATH OF A CHERISHED FRIEND & MAKING A NEW ONE.

It was already pretty dismal when the day started yesterday, May 10th. She had sent a private FaceBook message to an old friend who has 'gone to ground' in America wishing her a happy birthday but sad in the knowledge that she won't get a response.

"Hey-ho GeeGee.. let's not be blue 'cos we have 'lost' someone with whom we used to have so much fun, let's get on with life and start this gloomy day with a cheesy omelette, what do you say to that?"

Well, what would you say if someone offered to make you a cheesy omelette? I bet you'd go and volunteer to beat the eggs, wouldn't you? I can't do that but I could and did fly to the door of YumYum HQ to make sure she went into the right room. Slurpy things omelettes!

We pottered about and then at about 12.30am she left to go to L'Oreal to have her colour done. On the way, she went upstairs to collect her mail, not a lot of important stuff, with one envelope addressed in a beautiful hand-writing that she didn't recognise.

Underground to Hammersmith, a quick walk in dismal rain to L'Oreal where she signed in, got her security pass and went upstairs. About ten other 'models' were waiting, she sat next to a pretty woman who was working on an iPad.

She opened her basket as mindful of Teresa's wise words, she had packed a cold lunch and pulled out a bag of chopped carrot. "Much healthier, clever you" said the woman who was eating a roll and so she offered her the bag. "Thank you, how very crunchy, I love the bigger carrots, they have much more taste than little skinny ones" said the woman.

They started talking about vegetables and it transpires the woman has had an allotment for twenty six years on the Bishops Palace Road site!

They were called in, sat next to each other and started to talk. I wasn't there but somehow, knitting, burns, food and nationality was mentioned and when Millie said she was Malaysian, she replied "Selamat patang (good afternoon in Malay). "What, how do you know that" squeaked Millie and then, Dear Readers, they were off and running to the races!

Hannah was 'her' colour student and the colour had been worked out, the model has to keep quiet to let the student work out what colour was used before. In her case she has an 8.13 base with a small percentage of 8.00 added and then a few pieces tweaked through by hand.

Very natural and pretty but she must remember to wear a hat when gardening.. for it is NOT the sun that bleaches your hair when you are sailing or gardening.. it's the oxygen in the wind!

When her hair was being blow dried, she remembered her post and upon opening the letter her day became darker, her life immeasureably duller and Hannah said "Gosh, are you ok? You've gone very pale".

It was a difficult letter to read but it was more difficult for poor Kate to write. Fancy having the unenviable task of writing to all the close friends of your mother to tell them that she has died, well, actually she does know, for she had to do the same when Constance died in 2002.

Angela Flanders, her adored, most beloved friend of over thirty years, has died. You may know of her as the Perfumer who opened that very pretty little shop in Coloumbia Road in 1982. My mama met her in 1984 and they became friends.. she pretty much created 'Caspian', one of her famous perfumes, for mama. A scent she treasures and uses almost every day.

Angela gave her her first copy of Valerie Ann Woorwoods' book 'The Fragrant Pharmacy' in 1990. And, fittingly, last time she saw Angela was in February when she took her to have an aromatherapy treatment with Valerie. The meeting of these two 'giants' of the world of essential oils was beyond extraordinary.

That was the most enchanted day, she collected Angela at 11.00am, brought her back home and left left her in the evening. She had become frail in recent months, having just been diagnosed with the onset of Parkinsons'.

But this didn't stop them having a great time, for they talked, upon serious subjects and non-serious subjects, they laughed, reminisced upon veryvery happy times with other friends.. oh lordy, Lesley Balazs must be heart broken by this news.. and they had eaten all manner of highly delicious things at the 'Greasy Spoon' Cafe in Romford.

Her funeral is being held next Thursday and who is she seeing the day before? Valerie,you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.

She left L'Oreal in a daze.. but not before Millie had given her a card and they sent each other a text to log in their telephone numbers.. and yes, she will be taking Millie to Borough Market to meet the Malaysian Dumpling Crew!

Oi vey.. what a day.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 10th, 2016.

SOME OF LONDON ZOOS BIGGEST SPIDERS WERE IN LITTLE SHED!

I am writing the following couple of posts as if the next day hasn't happened yet.. bear with me, you will see why.

Oh boy, was I lucky! I wasn't going anyway because she had to go to weigh-in and then to find various things for Little Shed but, oh boy, WAS I lucky, like reallyreally lucky!

For the Summer we had been enjoying in England came to an abrupt halt at about 3.45pm when she felt a few drops of water on her face and thought 'Huh..' and went back in to continue scrubbing and washing the other side of the shed and disturbing some of the hairiest, monstrously sized spiders she has ever, ever seen in her life, she wondered 'were some inmates of London Zoo missing?'

She never wears her hearing aids when she goes to the allotments, so didn't hear the rain start until it was, literally, hammering on the roof of little shed! And such rain, we've had a week of hot days and everything was looking a bit dry, so she watched in fascination as her asparagus grew four inches in height! Oh.. happy thoughts of this much loved stuff for supper tonight went through her mind.

And so on she went, washing and rinsing.. ending up with a immaculately shiny sink, sterilised work surfaces, floor swept and washed, then sprayed with the non-smelly Jeyes Fluid. Glasses washed, rinsed and polished. Dirty string cloths put into a bag to bring home and boil.

And an evil briar and jasmine cut back from the windows outside so you can actually see through the windows! An she found the glove the wrens nested in.. this is worthy of another tale all to itself!

She picked the asparagus, her first cutting of the season at 8.15pm. She cuts the spears just under the surface with an incredibly sharp small knife and didn't feel in the slightest bit sorry for the slugs that she killed, the rain had brought them out in their thousands. All thinking, no doubt, that she wouldn't still be on the plots as it was so late.

It was even later when she got home, completely soaked, it was past 9.30pm and she was exhausted. Far too tired to even think of getting down the steamer for the asparagus. She trimmed it properly and put it away in the fridge.

A very hot shower and a cup of bovril with a slice of toast saved the day and warmed her bones. She knows that she isn't eating enough, she's worked the plots for four days in a row and has only drunk water during the day, eating a light supper upon her return.

"Your body has gone into starvation mode" said a chum from weigh-in said, "You must remember to take some protein or cold pasta with you and eat some herbs when you're working out there and up your water consumption".

Why was Teresa telling her to eat more. Well, despite the fact she is shrinking a bit each week, she gained 2lbs last week and is back up to 10 stone.. aka 140 lbs.. and so she slunk out of group before Katy could give her the evil eye!

Sadly, the thing she loves but knows is not good for her just HAS to stop.. bread and her are like catnip to cats.. except that it doesn't muck about with cats' weight, which it certainly does with hers! ByeBye bread.. you really are 'toast' in our house.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 9th, 2016.

TAKING BACK LITTLE SHED.

A strange title, yes, I'll give you that. She was actually reclaiming it, for Messrs Rat and Spider have obviously been living it it since she put it to 'bed' last Autumn and what a mess they've made! Grrr. Mr. Rat sat and crapped on everything, to put it politely and Mr. Spider wove webs every where else!

She donned a face mask, nose and mouth fully covered and long thick gloves, she had buckets of water, string cloths, sterilising fluid and Jeyes Fluid, the non-smelly one.

Thank goodness for another sunny day as everything except the cooking and eating things had ቶto come out of little shedኦፍ ልትትለand be on the terrace so she could get at the floor and shelves. Sweep then wash was the method., a section at a time working from the back of the shed towards the door.

But nothing has been damaged or broken except where Rat has tried to chew his way into a cupboard and one bottle of water where he chewed the top and let all the fizz out! However, a big piece of roofing felt has come adrift on the roof but we are not surprised, for the winds have been very fierce and that felt is at least three years old.

What a good thing the weather is dry! She found a full roll of roofing felt under the big bench which used to be her bed.. those were happy days when she used to stay down there with no problems but with the 'strange' folks that wander about, she wouldn't feel safe doing that now.

And she has to make good the two holes where Mr. Rat is getting in. Underneath the sink, she spied his door.. huh.. a piece of wood on the outside backed up by a new piece of hardboard with metal mesh slipped in between the two should stop him. The same needs to be done a bit further along underneath the shelves.

Before in years gone by, she would clean the shed, put everything away in its' proper place and come back in the early Spring to find it exactly the same, she didn't have to spend two days sweeping and scrubbing and she's never had to bring the base curtains home before to wash! But old Spider has made a dreadful mess on them.

She soaked the curtains and the dirty wash cloths in cold water there, put them into a bag and brought them home and they're now in the machine on a hot wash together with disinfectant. It will be a full two days work as she still has to wash and disinfect work surfaces, cooker, glasses and mugs, iron and re-hang the base curtains.

The next big job is the terrace and the back peony and rose bed which is right at the back. Structural work needs to be done to the fence, wind damage has caused a whole section to collapse. Then slash, cut and burn in the incinerator needs to happen to that wretched briar so she can actually get to little tool sheds' door!

For little shed is not supposed to have any tools in it apart from hand tools like screwdrivers etc. All the gardening tools have their own shed, beautifully equipped with a table and proper clips to hold long tools up off the ground in their own space.

But she was lazy towards the end of last year and on a couple of occasionally, I have to admit, she put tools away in the wrong shed and then that evil briar grew! And now there is no way you can even get to little tool shed at all! Let alone, see the incinerator!

Ha.. the old briar and that old jasmine, which has become overgrown and far too big for its' roots are both in for a nasty shock! Tuesday she's at L'Oreal for colour but from Wednesday onwards until next Wednesday, the 18th of May, she has allocated each day to gardening.

For there is no point in having a garden if you're not going to work it, is there? And as she's now fitter and stronger, there is no excuse for the place not to look like it used to!

When back fence has been mended, my big cage can go back into place, that'll be good. It's lockable, she puts me in, locks it and can work on a bit of the plot out of sight with no fear of me being stolen.. yes, there are very strange folk wandering about!

But that is then and now it's way past our bedtimes, it'll be a slower start to the day tomorrow as she has weigh-in at 1.00pm, I wonder if she's lost any lbs painting those trees and cleaning little shed? Well, we'll find out tomorrow night, won't we.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 8th, 2016.

PAINTING HER FRUIT TREES.

No, she wasn't sitting down with an easel in front of her wearing a pretty hat with a large brim, she was a'bending and a'stretching and using a big brush to paint the trunks and lower branches of her fruit trees.

Why? You might well ask. But having lost a much beloved Seneca plum to sun scorching and those wretched borers, she isn't about to let it happen to the rest of her fruit trees.

She has seen it done on many a tree in Europe and America and occasionally here as well but couldn't find the right pain.. Latex paint. Even B&Q didn't have any and their paint man said he had never heard of it.. grrr.. so it truly was a 'EUREKA' moment when she read on Thursday night an American website that gave her the all-important piece of information.. 'Latex paint is known by our English cousins as Emulsion'.

"Emulsion! Emulsion, there's a 10 litre can of white emulsion sitting with two paint brushes in my hall", she squeaked with joy! She left the house with the can and brushes in WW and returned home at about 7.30pm. Having painted thirteen trees and hard pruned the tips of all the stone fruit trees.

All the fruit trees are covered in blossom and the one that gave her the most pleasure to see like this was the youngest, a Ballerina 'Spartan' apple tree. Her first fruiting year she gave us four apples, last year she gave us twenty but this year! Goodness me, we could have a stall at a Farmer's market! For she is covered in blossom.. pretty pink and white blossom.

And the garlic look as if they're ready to harvest! And.. yippee.. lookielookie.. oh, much joy! You've guessed what caused her great happiness, haven't you? She saw a few asparagus spears, these past few days of sunshine and warmth have prompted the asparagus into sticking its' nose out of the ground. She was mighty tempted to pick them but as they were no more than three inches long, she decided that her greed could wait until Monday!

I'm going with her today, it wasn't possible yesterday as my big traveling cage plus a fully laden WW is a two handed trick and it is not easy dealing with these two getting on and off buses, plus the long flight of steps at the allotments. However, she had an extremely pleasant day, the sun was shining and there is always a breeze there, aka a strong wind in early Spring, late Autumn and Winter.

But saw an alarming thing, when she was painting the greengage tree when she heard the most gruesome noise and looked up to see a road making machine trundling down the track! She shouted at the man and he cut the engine so she could say "what's going on?", his answer was truly MOST alarming.. "we're making a proper road down here, starting on Monday". GRRRR.. making a proper road for about 150 allotment plots.. she doesn't think so!

So she'll contact the estate of the Duke of Devonshire on Monday. For where the plots are is part of a huge piece of land as Duke's Meadows, this was gifted to Hounslow Council by one of the Dukes of Devonshire in the 19th century for agricultural and recreational use.. only. Plus, it is the flood plane for Barnes. She would like to know under what conditions the land was gifted by the Devonshire Estate.

For a lot of land is gifted with a covenant that if the usage of the land is changed, the land has to go back to the estates. And that might stop Hounslow Council thinking about any development of the Chertsey Road Allotment site.

But before that, there are more trees to paint, briars to destroy, seeds and things to plant, grass to cut, bean supports to be erected, hedges to be trimmed, a naughty clematis Montana Mayleen to be cut right back (after she has flowered), what a heavenly perfume this variety has, the bees love it.

A large stone flagged terrace to sort out, an eating table to build, little shed to be cleaned and disinfected. MUCH WORK has to be done and she the one that has to do it! Me? Oh, I just loll about and squeak encouragement whenever I see her slacking.. it's very chirpful watching other people work, don't you agree?

Now, I saw her come in with a mug of Amber Nectar.. aka LapySang, where is it? A big slurp is an extremely good way to make and start my day!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 7th, 2016.
PostScript and Up-Date: Blimey! That was quick. Andrew, a very Dear Reader, who keeps his ear extremely close to the ground, has telephoned to say "Panic not, they're not making a tarmac road, the machines are there to scrape off the middle lumpy bit of the track before multiple tons of 'hardcore' are laid on Wednesday, the hardcore is already on-site at the other end of the site and new gates are being installed".

AND THE SUN CAME TOO!

Upon waking very early this morning, Beaky took a quick sneaky peek to see what kind of day it was and oh lookielookie, it was bright, so I squeaked to wake her up "Mum wake up, it's a sunny day, can we get up and have LapySang?" She must have packed a few sun rays in her case when we left Pewsey yesterday afternoon, for it is a lovely morning here in deepest Knightsbridge today.

When we got home yesterday afternoon, she unpacked me and I flew into our bedroom to see what had been going on whilst I had been away, nothing, that was reassuring as you never know with those pesky mice!

She took off her jacket, pulled a cardigan out of a cupboard, gave me fresh yumyum, water, a kiss on Beaky and left the house, first to collect lots of stuff from Andrews, our most excellent pharmacy in Sloane Street, then onto Lidl at Clapham Junction for various things and on her way home, she voted for the council elections at the newly located Marlborough School in Draycot Avenue.

Then came home to cook an early supper.. yum.. loin of pork chop with tasty rice! She went to bed early, to read the papers and catch up on emails. I went to bed early too, her hand came up, I stepped down and slid into my night house without a single grumble. Our light went out before 9.00pm!

At some point in the next few days she has to buy white exterior emulsion paint, with which she will paint the trunks of the fruit trees at the allotments. Sounds strange doesn't it but it helps protect the trees from nasty grubs that damage fruit and also stops the trumks from being scorched. That small Seneca Plum that she lost last year was damaged by scorching and she doesn't want to lose any others.

Lots to do at the allotments, there is that horrid briar to kill and dig out.. hard work.. and she has to be fully covered up when doing it. Seeds to plant and beds to make, grass to cut, timber to buy for new raised beds, more compost to spread and hopefully.. very hopefully, asparagus spears to pick!

Egg, hummus, tea and toast.. slurp! They're a'calling us, we'll return at a later date with news from the plots. Enjoy your day wherever you may be.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 6th, 2016.

PEWSEY POST NEWSFLASH!

A massive fire at Vauxhall Station which started in the early hours of this morning means there are no trains going through to Waterloo Station and Clapham Junction is truly up the creek! Huge crowds of people have been crammed onto too few trains.. as only four lines are now open instead of the normal eight.

So we are a'training home by way of Pewsey Station.. It will be Platform number 1 folks. All aboard the 14.10pm for Reading and Paddington Station.. then home by a 414 bus.

She has to vote at Marlborough School, Draycot Place, don't forget to vote if you live in the UK.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 5th, 2016.

A PEWSEY POST.. ABOUT BOUNCING ABOUT!

Greetings to you all, we are on the last day of our jaunt to Pewsey in Wiltshire and I have to report that much chocolate has been eaten by her goodself in the form of birthday cake, two birthday cakes to be precise! For yesterday, Ginger, Panda and I were left behind whilst Michele, Peter and mama drove to Faiths' house where they celebrated Poppys' tenth birthday.

Mama said there was a lot of excitement about cat music! Cats! Since when did they make music? I thought they miaowed. Oh, silly me, she has just told me it was a gift which was the cd of a musical called Cats! Probably before my time..

Before the party, Michele and mama went boot shopping in Amesbury, which is, apparently, the oldest continuously inhabited place within the British Isles. The boot / shoe shop had one boot which looked ok but it had a silly thing which stopped her foot sliding it, her arch is very high and so that was a no-no

But it worked to her advantage! For the next place, called The Factory Shop, had Karrimor boots at less than half price! A real deal! So a pair of 37s and a pair of 38s cost her less than the boots that didn't fit at the other shop. All she needs to do is to spray them with weather-proof spray.

And, the weather has turned! It's sunny! Like realllyreally sunny! The two women and I sat in the sun before lunch and they both got 'pink' faced, I had her iPad as a lid on my cage for shade.

When they returned from eating Poppys' cake, they had supper, don't worry folks, I was slipped a bit too, it was duck.. I love duck! Then dogs were put to bed and I was allowed out for an hours' treat to sit on Peters' head.. ah.. Beaky crunching time.

And you'll all be veryvery pleased to hear (and know) that my feathers really are coming through! And not one big feather have I plucked! However, with that sunny warm day, that witch appeared.. aka mother in disguise.. with the dreaded spray and she soaked me twice whilst I was outside. I made a fuss, as usual, but actually, it was quite pleasant for it kept me cool.

We are lolling in bed, it isn't yet 08.45am, I'm having a scratch and a poke about whilst on her head and proof reading this whilst she taps iPad, there's a mug of LapySang brewing beside us and all is well but we've a train to catch from Andover, so must get up and start our day, we send you our best regards.

But what is the meaning of this title, I hear you cry? Ah yes, bouncing about, well, you see Poppy, Freddie and Charlotte have a trampoline in their garden, a full sized one and she got on it yesterday.

Her first time ever on one and she said to Peter that it made her feel a little sea-sick, a that's a weird feeling as she's never been sea-sick in her life. But there they were, Peter, Charlotte and her.. before eating chocolate cake.. just a'bouncing about.

Bye-bye folks.. this is our last Pewsey Post.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 5th, 2016.

A PEWSEY POST.. ABOUT PEOPLE WHO GOT TALLER.. VERYVERY CONFUSING!

Years ago, I met someone small called Poppy, I didn't see her for a couple of years and then I met her again when I came to Pewsey the last time in April 2015. I also met Freddie, her younger brother and Charlotte, her baby sister, Freddie was six and a half and Charlotte was two and a few months.

You won't remember but the last time mama came to stay in Pewsey earlier this year for Peter's birthday, I went to the avairy, so I haven't seen my small friends for fifteen months and my goodness me! What a shock! They're all BIGGER! How did that happened? Mama hasn't got taller, or bigger (well, she has in the past but bigger round-wise, not taller). These three munchkins have shot up in height!

I didn't get taller as I got older, when will they stop growing? Is this normal? Should I be concerned? Poppy is already up to Michele's shoulder! And soon she will be taller than my mama. We'll be the littlest of them all.. apart from Panda and Ginger but they trot about on four feet, it's not really the same, is it?

Anyway, today was Michele's birthday which was an extremely happy day, she scored lots of great presents and then the family in the way of Faith, Poppy, Freddie and Charlotte came for an early birthday supper.. bringing with them more presents and a truly most scrummydumptious home made birthday cake!

The birthday cake was made by Faith (Michele and Peter's daughter) out of chocolate and raspberries, sadly no cake for me.. sigh.. chocolate is poisonous for both dogs and parrots.. but I did have carrots and was introduced to slurpy-spicy Bombay mix over the past two days, so I'm not complaining!

And tomorrow is another day of celebration, Poppy will be ten.. and growing taller by the day.

Time for bed.. maybe there'll be another Pewsey Post tomorrow but at what time, I do not know. We have to go back to London as mama has to vote. But it won't be doomy or gloomy as our weather is supposed to becoming warmer, we'll go to the allotments and be in fresh air and sunshine.

That is very Chirpful making news, isn't it?

GeeGee Parrot.
May 3rd, 2016. 

THE GOOD FOLK OF PEWSEY DIDN'T RAISE AN EYEBROW AS SHE TOOK MOST OF HER CLOTHES OFF..

No, not even a strange glance did she get! But as she was still smarting from having gained 2 lbs last week, she sure as hell wasn't getting on those scales wearing any extra clothes, that's for sure!

HeeHee HaHa.. lost.. 1 lb! Yippee.. she pulled back on her jeans and sweater, jacket and boots, kissed nice Nathalie, who had never seen her before, "goodbye" and skipped off to join Michele, Pete having gone to choir practise, and, she didn't slip into the pub for a bag of chips on the way home!

Thank goodness for that! She's back down to 9 stone 12 lbs.. aka 138 lbs.

Home to salmon, tatties and peas, for all of us, yes, me included, it was comfy sitting on the edge of a proper tray eating off her plate. You all know how much I enjoy fish and that pink stuff salmon, is delicious done in tin foil in the oven.

I had second helpings, when Pete came in and stood on his head when we shared an apple, after that I was so happy, I ground Beaky.. denotes huge amount of happiness.

Then it was bed time at 10.30 pm, seeing as Pete and the dogs leave the house most mornings before 06.00am for their two hour walk, we go to bed early in this house.. I am not surprised, are you?

More Pewsey Post tomorrow.. Chirp.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 2nd, 2016.
PostScript: Present has been wrapped and was smuggled downstairs.

Platform 12 for the 14.42 Train.. last three carriages nearest to ticket barrier.. Woking, Basingstoke & Andover.. all aboard!

Chuff.. chuff.. our train left Waterloo on time.. first stop Woking. We had two seats and a table all to ourselves and trained down to Andover. And, oh lookielookie, there is a God after all, for there was my Kasuko (Swahili for parrot) loving friend Peter.

Ah, that's why we caught a chuff-chuff, we've come to stay with Michele, Peter, Ginger and Panda in Pewsey, Wiltshire. Tomorrow, the third of May, is Michele's birthday and on the fourth of May, it is Poppy's turn to have her birthday and she'll be ten. No, don't be nosy, you don't have to know which birthday Michele is celebrating.

So things had to be smuggled into the house unwrapped. 'cos packing wrapped presents means they arrive looking bent and battered, well, they would if we had brought them, for it looked as if we were coming to stay for six months we had so much kit! We'll leave with one small bag and the others, by then empty, will be inside that small bag.

We slept well, and awoke to a sunny morning, I ate my usual fare of egg, toast, walnut but then, oh dear! I hadn't realised she'd packed that wretched spray, before they all went out, she soaked me and my piteous squeals and cries were heard through the bathroom door and all the way downstairs.

Soaked Dear Readers, I was absolutely drenched from Beaky to the end of red bum, then left to 'air dry'. The reckoning is the homeopathic drops in the water help heal my plucking and maybe it's working for I do know that, touch wood, I haven't had the desire to pull out any of my new feathers that are coming through.

They, the humans, went out shopping and were gone for a couple of hours. I was left downstairs and able to see out into the garden and look at all manner of avian folk who were hopping and bopping about. Upon their arrival home, I was given a slice of my favourite bread, they had been to Lidl!

She has to go out later, yes.. weigh-in happens all over the UK, she's leaving here at about 6.45pm to walk up the road to Pewsey Primary School.. she doesn't reckon she's lost any weight and she's just hoping that she hasn't gone up over 10 stone.. aka 140lbs!

All will be revealed.. in my Pewsey Post.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 2nd, 2016.