BRIGHT SUNLIGHT.. IT'S A PITY SHE'S LOST HER SUNGLASSES..

It's a great day for gardening, the sun is ris, those outside birds are singing, it's a trifle chilly but she has clothes that can deal with the cold. 

The only 'boring' thing is that I have to stay home alone, because I'm a daft bird and haven't yet grown all of my clothes back.

She careful about her stuff when she goes out and this makes losing her sunglasses weird, and sad. For they had belonged to Constance, they were oval shaped tortoiseshell frames and pretty.

 So she got excited about The Optic Shop and their fantastic prices but has had bad news.. boohoo.. they only go up to a certain degree and her prescription is too high.

But at least she can buy frames from them, they're much cheaper, then get the frames filled with her prescriptions.

She needs glasses for both long and short distance, as the open angled glaucoma is causing the sight in her left eye to deteriorate.

Quelle Bummer.. never mind.

Let us think of nicer things.. she's bulbs to plant and barrow loads of manure to fetch for the new raised beds and tapping my post won't get either of those two gardening 'chores' done, will it?

She's off to don layers of clothing, I'll settle down on a comfy perch, I'm very fond of a shelf in the bedroom, it's a 'daytime' perch, by this I mean that I only use it when I am 'home alone'. 

With yumyum, a daylight bulb lamp and Radio 4. I shall be quite content, she'll be back before too long, it's far too cold to spend more than a few hours out there.  

GeeGee Parrot.

January 30th, 2018.

PostScript: www.theopticshop.co.uk may be ok for your prescription, contact them on:

Tel: 01656 858285.

SIMON REEVE ON VIETNAM AND COFFEE. CHRIS PACKHAM ON SUMATRA AND PALM OIL AND THE LOST GIRL.

Chris Packham and Simon Reeve gave us two excellent television programmes last night.

The first one was with Simon Reeves, an author and tv presenter, we always try to catch his travel documentaries as he journeys to the not-so-well known parts of the world and the programme last night on the coffee industry in Vietnam was excellent.

This programme was first shown on January 20th, 2014 on BBC 2. This World.

The French introduced the coffee bean into Vietnam when they governed it in the 1800's and it is due to this that Hanoi has the legacy of its' coffee culture and the thousands of cafes.

But it is since the end of the Vietnam war in 1975 that the Communist Government have expanded its' growth into an enormously valuable industry.

Huge numbers of people from the northern part of the country were given free land - two hectares - if they would relocate themselves to the southern part of the country.

However, they grow Robusta, the bean used in the making of Instant Coffee, it is a low grade variety and although it has brought huge wealth to a few people and, certainly a better standard of living to the people who are the actual growers, it does not earn the same amount of money as Arabica beans, the type used throughout the world for cappuccino or expresso coffee.

The programme is certainly worth watching. 

The second BBC 2 documentary we watched was with Chris Packham.

He journeyed to Sumatra twenty years ago and took several photos of a small group belonging to a tribe of hunter-gatherers, including a photo of a young girl. He never knew her name and they have had no contact since.

She was a member of the Orang Rimba tribe who live in the rainforest jungle.

Chris is a conservation expert and twenty years later after taking the photo, he wondered whether she and her group of hunter-gathers were still alive or whether they have been forced out due to the destruction of Sumatra's rainforests in order to plant millions of hectares of, mostly, Palm trees for their oil.

He flew to Sumatra and reconnected with the people that he had travelled with last time and heard dreadful news, that some of group he had met and photographed had been killed in a massacre.

Had she been killed? No one knew her face. It seemed as it he would never know what happened to her and the rest of the group.

Then a visit to another group, living in a very small part of the rainforest that has been designated as a National Park, gave them a lead.

There was another group of Orang living outside the park who came from the same area as the original group. 

The camera team drive to meet them and show them the photos and there was an immediate recognition of the young girl. "Yes, we know her, she is Bunga, she's the sister in law of one of our group, she is married and has three children".

Chris and his small team drive to the area and find the group with which Bunga now lives. Both of her parents and her brother and sister were killed in the massacre.

There is the relief of finding her alive but it is touched with sadness, her group is not able to sustain their traditional lives by eating wild vegetables such as cassava and the jungle fruits.

Fish have all but disappeared from the streams and rivers due to high usage of fertilisers and the rainforest flora and fauna have all gone.. never to return.

They now live amongst the very trees that caused the destruction of their natural habitat, the Sumatra rainforests, but there was one thing that really spoke to us.. she was wearing a digital watch.

We're incredibly grateful to Simon Reeve and Chris Packham for their books and documentaries and, of course, to Sir David Attenborough whose programme 'The Blue Planet 2' on the world's oceans was magnificent.

With that, Dear Readers, we have to start our day. We've eaten eggs, drunk tea, she's tapped this post and will get on with figuring how I can squeeze my body through this tiny gap and munch her papers.

Ah Ha.. I did it! But, unfortunately, before Beaky could do any damage, she looked up as there was an ominous silence and saw.. no red bum!

Man, she was up and over to the cupboard in a flash and before I knew it, I was on the outside of the cupboard again with the dreaded finger being waved in front of poor ole Beaky!

Sneaky wench, she then up-ended a metal file tray, stuffed it onto the top of the shelf and propped the door back up again. Boring.. very boring. 

Never mind, she will be going out at some point, soon I trust, and I can either doze or find some other naughty thing to do whilst she is out.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 29th, 2018.
PostScript: Bill and Constance's birthday.

DOES YOUR COMPUTER BEHAVE OR IS IT A DELINQUENT?

Living in America, in NYC to be precise, there is a friend of ours called LuLu, that's not her 'real' name but that's the name that she's called her for many a year, how many years, well, more than twenty five that's for sure. 

We called her earlier this month to wish her, Tom (husband) and Nora (daughter) a happy New Year and received a short email giving us some of her up to date news.

And the promise for a fatter, more in-depth email to come later in the week. We waited, no email, then we spoke with another friend who wasn't feeling well and realised that LuLu might have some insight on a medical problem which we could pass onto our other friend.

We called and left a short message on her landline telephone.. thank goodness her provider gives her a good rate for overseas calls.

And received in return a hysterically rude email!

In which she blasted her computer's cursor for its' mad habit of whizzing, inserting text in the wrong place and, even worse, for highlighting massive chunks of text which it then deleted!

She has to ask Raja if there is a 'thing' in Settings that can remedy such bad and maddeningly idiotic behavior, for as sure as eggs are eggs, to write a long detailed email with family and friend's news and to see it disappear in the blink of an eye, would drive her around the twist.

She does press the Save button on her laptop when she is writing posts and is careful not to let her hands rest on the keyboard but holds them in the position they taught her when she learnt touch typing fifty one years ago at Canterbury Tech. 

LuLu suggested one thing and we looked at it this morning, hmmm.. well, the one thing our friend mentioned was she felt 'chilled' to the bone all the time, that is not a symptom that is showing up on relevant information pages.

An Ultrasound has been requested by our friends' GP, I guess we'll have to wait and see. Let's hope that her hospital are as on the ball as ours has been with regard to my mama's health.

And in the meantime, LuLu needs to 'speak' to her computer very severely.. we can't have chunks of hard written text disappearing off into thin air, can we?

It's a dreary day, Thursday is forecasted to be sunny and bright, colder than today but she doesn't mind if it's cooler. It's the damp and darkness that she hates.

She's going to see the Balenciaga exhibition at the V&A Museum and maybe have a cup of tea up in the new Friends Room.

I'm busy investigating the top of a cupboard, I can't quite get in but am hanging onto the door in the hope that I might, she laughed and said "Pig's will fly GeeGee before you can squeeze through that tiny gap".. huh.. that laugh will be on the other side of her face if I do get in there, it's where all her paper files are!

Chirp and Rip.. HeeHee.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 28th, 2018.

'LOST' FRIENDS.. REMEMBERING WONDERFUL LUNCHES AT THE GARRICK CLUB & THE 1974 HORSE OF THE YEAR SHOW

She hadn't thought about him for many years and only did so today because a friend rang and told her about lunching at the Garrick Club.

'Ah.. the Garrick with those marvelous pictures and wonderful wines' she thought to herself and remembered the times that she had lunched there in the early '70s.

A friend, Tim Odhams, had run a PR company in Dover Street called Odhams & Gunn, his family had owned the old and well respected publishing house, Odhams Press and Tim knew all manner of people from all walks of life and going to lunch at the Garrick with Tim and some of his friends was an experience, to say the least! 

One of the partners of Odhams and Gunn was Raymond Brooks-Ward, he was 'a horseman' in the true sense of the word. He started broadcasting on equestrian events in 1956 and knew everyone in horse world.. from all over the world.

It was at a lunch at the Garrick on a Friday with Tim, Dinny, who was Raymond's wife, Raymond and another couple of people, whose names escape her, that Dinny asked her if she would like to be their guest for a party they were taking to the 
Horse of the Year Show."I would love to come, thank you" she replied.

Fast forward to being collected from her flat by Dinny as Raymond was already at Wembley. They arrived and went off to the box where the party would all congregate. 

They were early and people started to arrive, leave their coats and go off, she was the only non-big name! For just after she got there, Patricia and Sam Koechlin arrived. You, Dear Readers, would have known her as Pat Smythe.

Who with Tosca, Flanagan and Prince Hal (her most famous horses) was the most successful female show jumper in the world, a record that still stands.

She was an author of many children's books as well as equestrian and autobiographical books.

She was literally struck dumb! She had watched Pat jump many times as a child / teenager and to be included in the same party was a bit amazing!

The show started, Raymond was commentating, then it finished and he came back to the box with two people and she started to smile..

Raymond, whose manners were impeccable, brought them towards her saying "I like to introduce you to a friend of ours" but the man  laughed and said "Oh, you don't have to Raymond, I've known her since she was 8 years old.. how are you darling girl?" And gave her the biggest hug.

To her, Dear Readers, he was Jaff. To you, Dear Readers, he would have been, unless you knew him, Lord Allenby, 2nd Viscount Allenby of Megiddo.

He was also the commissioner and chief instructor of her Pony Club, the Ashford Valley Branch and had taught her more than a trick or two at camp at Chilham Castle.

Everyone gathered their bags and coasts, they left Wembley and went onto Annabel's, where the party continued.

Jaff died 1984, Tim and Raymond died 1992. Pat Koechlin Smythe died 1996. Dinny died 2011.

Lost friends.. happy memories.. 

GeeGee Parrot.
January 27th, 2018.
PostScript: She cannot get to the allotment today, there was a major incident with burst mains in Hammersmith yesterday and a major section of King Street is closed. She's tried to get there when this happened before, it took hours. Next week will do just as well.. I hope. 

BY THE TIME SHE STOPPED FAFFING ABOUT AND GOT OUTSIDE, IT WAS A BRIGHT CLEAR DAY.

She loaded up WW with the donations that she was going to take to her shop and headed out for a number 14 bus. 

The traffic was heavy and it seemed to take ages to get to Fulham Broadway but get there she did and was greeted by the same crew that she had seen there yesterday!

"Haven't you lot been home?" she joked and was greeted by grins and laughter. She handed over a big bag of children's clothes and shoes, gave Amy a gift for organising four pairs of prescription glasses, more about these in our next post. 

"I'll see you tomorrow when I come to collect the wool, I can't take it now as I am going off to Kensington High Street, then Jermyn Street", she showed Amy where it was and they stuck labels onto the two bags.

She caught a 28 bus up to Kensington High Street, where she found the photo machines in Boots but none of them were working, boring but never mind, she remembered the big branch of Boots on Piccadilly Circus, which is a short walk from where she was headed to on Jermyn Street.

She was bound for 'Emma Willis' whose label is in a cashmere cardigan, a huge comfy old 'sloppy Joe' of a sweater which has a few holes in it caused by horrid Mr. or Mrs. Moth.

The assistant said she would 'try' to get her thread with which to darn the holes, huh, not very good service!

'John Smedley', whose wonderful knitwear shop is just across the road, would have whipped the cardigan out of her hand, taken her name and address and sent the garment off to be mended.. for very little money.

But she knows that Smedley's knitwear is made in the UK ,whereas this other shops' knitwear is probably made else, or rather, who knows, where!

Along Jermyn Street she walked, past Floris, how she loves their products, a sharp right turn brought her onto Piccadilly and into the circus where the big branch of Boots is to be found.

Up she went onto the first floor where, at the back on the left, there is a bank of photo machines, she transferred the relevant photos onto a disc, paid the cashier £2.00 which she thought was a very fair and reasonable price and left to catch a bus to come home.

If her left foot hadn't decided to play up and become sore, who knows why, she would have strolled into Chinatown and found yumyum to eat but she said 'another day' and came home.  

We wonder what the weekend and next week have in store for us, she has to collect the wools she's has paid for and bring them home and Pat and she have fixed a date, February 5th, to look at knitting patterns.

She has bulbs and a few perennials to plant out in a friends' garden and has Dahlias and lots of bulbs to plant out at our allotments plus several Lily of the Valley, which she'll plant underneath the big fig tree and in the back border. 

It is a friends' birthday on February 8th, she's found something which will make him 'laugh', although the subject isn't 'funny', it's the biography of a man who, at one point, was his wife's brother in law.. for a very short time!

He had a very 'active' war, winning a DSO and an MC.. these initials stand for Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross. You certainly don't get them for being a sissy.

She'll buy the book tomorrow, wrap it up and get it into the post early next week in plenty of time for his birthday.

Talking about birthdays.. I know this sounds tough but guess what, it's supposed to be. It is this.. those children who do not write and thank her for sending them a birthday present, do not get one the next year.

Now she's heading for YumYum HQ and I'm girding my wings to flap out there to supervise. I know there's a pomegranate for pudding but have not the faintest clue what we are having before, hence I'm going as well.. it might be something I don't like.. joke!

GeeGee Parrot.

January 26th, 2018.

SNAP AND FACEBOOK.. IT DIDN'T HAVE A HAPPY EVERAFTER ENDING.

If you are a regular Dear Reader of my blog you'll know that we write about a lot of things, some may bore the knickers off you but some you might find interesting.

You'll know that she reads newspapers and magazines, both on line and in the actual form of hard or crinkly paper ones.

You'll also know that one thing that drives her potty, even more than she is already, is FaceBook.

With its' constant bombardment onto your page for requests to befriend complete strangers whom she'll never meet. Or the loathsome thing when people 'poke' you.

She hates being poked in real life and when some idiot.. whom she dislikes because of the persons' cruelty towards her frail elder sister.. 'poked' her on FB more than six years ago, she thought 'how extraordinarily childish' and tried to remove it but guess what, that stupid poke is still there, because although it is her home page.. FB control it.

She visits it rarely but some of her real life friends are very active on it and everyone is different, if that is what makes them happy.. so be it.

But the behaviour of FB leaves a lot to be desired, they are not the only guilty ones, other tech companies are guilty of practices that are not exactly as pure as driven snow.

I suggest you read one of the leading articles in the Guardian (UK) newspaper today.  

That's your lot for this morning, she has to go to get those photos off the sd card and send the disc to her brother. 

It's a damp dismal day but guess what? It's Winter and we, up here in the northern hemisphere, need this rain and snow in order for our plants to give us tasty yumyum in Summer and Autumn.

But, we are nearly at the end of January which means, theoretically, that Spring should roll into town in about four and a bit weeks. Won't that be nice!

Now off you go about your business, I'll doze whilst she's out and about, poor old dear, she'll have to wear many layers of clothing again for it's very cold as well as wet. Ugh.

GeeGee Parrot.

January 6th, 2018.

THE NEWS! FOUR WEBSITES FOR YOU AND HER HEAD IS HURTING WITH SO MUCH THAT SHE HAS TO RELEARN!

Goodness me, is she going to be able to remember a 1/16th of it all? I'll explain.

When her laptop was ick-dick sick all those years ago, she bought an iPad and completely forgot how to use a computer because an iPad is so easy.

Now with this high powdered laptop, she is having to relearn all manner of things and who should be the best person to teach her, well none other than our Lebanese friend Raja and they had a major session this afternoon.

And at the end of it Raja gave her the names of websites for news that is not in the mainstream.

And here are the ones that she's put onto her favourites bar.

www.theintercept.com
www.truthdig.com
www.globalresearch.ca
www.mintpressnews.com

They have 'interesting' things that you might want to read.

Also interesting were photos that were on an old camera sd card she found whilst rootling about looking for something else today.

They were photos that she took on New Year's Eve 2007, taken up in a magnificent boathouse in Suffolk, the occasion? Her brother's 60th birthday party. 

And besides these of the party, there are lots of me taken circa 2005, me with grey eyes, this signifies that I was under 18 months, a little baby African Grey Parrot with a beautiful, lacy, unplucked feathered vest!

She'll go to Boots the chemists up on Kensington High Street at some point this weekend, put this sd card into their huge machine, transfer the photos of her brother's 60th party onto a disc, which she will send to him, and delete them off her card. 

Discs being more stable than sd cards, she'll also transfer the ones of me onto a disc and bring that one home with her.

And tomorrow's Friday! Where do the weeks go? It was sunny this morning but it clouded over and when she came home at 6.30pm it was bitterly cold.

She's said that she ain't going out to the allotments if it's as cold or wet again tomorrow, her kind of gardening is hot and sweaty work and then having to wait for 20 minutes in the freezing cold for a bus isn't a good idea.

There's always stuff to do around here. For a start, she's got to put up the huge curtain pole back up onto its' brackets and rehang the curtains, they had to come down when the builders opened up the chimney to remove all the rubble.

Boy.. the dust was gruesome, thank goodness she had all those old drop cloths which prevented it from getting onto the  upholstered furniture.

Now we've got to go, she's got to turn a stew off that's been hubble-bubbling on the stove, we like a good bone broth stew at the weekend, with carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic, ginger root and herbs, they're tasty, smell delicious and are nutritious.

But, oh woe, I've got to go to bed, as you lot are older, pray tell me, does going to bed ever get any easier?

GeeGee Parrot.
January 25th, 2018.

I AM SPOILT..YES, I STICK MY WING UP AND ADMIT TO THIS FOR I'VE A COOK WHO ALSO WASHES UP & MY OWN PERSONAL SHOPPER..

Life is good when you are a parrot 'child', your parent does all the hard work and you, the bird, get to live the life of 'Old Riley'.

The first Dear Reader who explains to me in my comment box (which is situated at the end of each post) who this old codger was will be awarded a Reddie.

This 'Reddie', to those of you who haven't read a previous post about Reddies, is one of my highly prized tail feathers.

I was busy munching lunch at the shop yesterday when the thought occurred to me, that I didn't buy the chicken and neither did I cook it.

Everything just appears or disappears if it is supposed to.. for instance, the paper which lines the base of my night house or the seed husks out of my bowl.

I do try to help by dropping the empties from my day bowl onto the floor for nice Mr. Bissell to gobble up. 

They don't have a happy life those machines, they are usually kept in a dark space and fed not very exciting things, just dust and the odd small bit of what-ever that you don't want on your floor, no wonder that they make such a noise, they must get so terribly hungry, poor things.

And so I'm grateful as there is always some morsel to be found, yesterday's tasty morsel was very tasty indeed.

On Tuesday, she'd bought a bag of chicken thighs which she cooked very slowly in chicken broth with garlic, herbs, ginger root and carrots.

Yesterday was Wednesday, the day we volunteer at the charity shop. When she woke up, she put the chicken pot onto boil, then turned the heat down to simmer whilst we had our eggs. She steamed a sprout top for a minute, drained it, put olive oil onto the leaves and added seasoning.

Just before we left the house, she put some of the meat and sprouts into a thermos flask, laid three of the thigh bones on top, closed the lid, checked the seal and hi ho hi ho.. off we went to work.

It was chucking it down! Luckily she had covered my travel cage with a thick towel, so I was warm and dry but she was very grateful for her proper raincoat, boots and one of Pat's hats!

The shop, as always, was very busy! Masses of incredibly nice donations were being brought in by regular customers and so, after settling my cage on top of a box, she opened the flask and gave me of chunks of chicken and the bones.

Then she started to work, labelling all manner of items with their correct codes, putting clothes onto hangers, steaming them, then she went into the shop to: tidy clothes rails, shoe racks, fill up book shelves, price dvd's and cd's. 

There's always lots to do in a busy shop and this is a reallyreally busy shop!

We left at 5.30pm, it was still chucking it down! She said "we're going straight home darling, thank goodness we have everything we need and I don't have to go out again".

That was when I realized, how very lucky I am.

You can take things for granted, can't you? Do you take your cook / bottle washer / house cleaner for granted?

I suggest you don't, because cooking / bottle washing / house cleaning aren't the most fun things to do.. day in.. day out.

And if you are the only one in your house, well, give yourself a break now and again and give yourself permission to do something a bit differently.

We have awoken to a bright clear day!

She can't go to the allotment as she has arranged to have a laptop 'class' with Raja this afternoon, as she cancelled yesterday because of staying longer at the shop, she can't cancel him again.

She has to go to the bank, do a couple of loads of laundry, put clean laundry away, we'll have lunch and go up the road for her laptop lesson.

So let's hope it is a fine day tomorrow.. for weeds grow in the rain.

GeeGee Parrot.

January 25th, 2018.

IF YOU GREW UP IN RURAL COUNTRYSIDE YOU MIGHT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE, I DOUBT THAT THEY'RE EVER SOLD IN A SUPERMARKET OR CROCER'S SHOP.. WE LOVE THEM.

What are they?

They're called Sprout Tops, they are the very top of the long stem that Brussel Sprouts grow on.

If you see a long stem of sprouts at a farmer's market or in a grocers, almost certainly they've had the top lopped off.

And it is this bit, without a doubt, which is the very best bit of the vegetable. The sprouts that are on it are tiny, about the size of an old sixpence and get smaller still as you go up the stem to the top leaves.

The top leaves don't taste like cabbage but they look like a blowsy cabbage stuck on the top of this stem.

Pick off the baby sprouts and put them into boiling salted water for no longer than a minute, after 30 seconds of the minute, add the leaves and put on the lid.

Then strain the vegetable water into a mug, add a dash of olive oil, freshly ground black pepper with maybe a sprinkle of ground chilli and garlic.  

She found them today on her favourite stall in the market, four tops for a £1.00, she also found three pomegranates for a £1.00, this made me happy because I adore these fruits.

She was out of here at some ungodly hour this morning, her hearing aids needed work and she disappeared underground to catch the tube to Hammersmith to go to the audiology department of Charing Cross Hospital.

Her naughty surgery had not sent back the hospital's letter requesting an appointment for her hearing to be retested, her last test was March '15, so she took a copy of the original letter and went off to confront her surgery.

WELL! That was jolly! The doctor hadn't signed it, despite it being stamped as received on January 10th.. so someone found a doctor very quickly and she took it back to CC Hospital, handed it to the receptionist and smiled.. like a wolf! 

She roared with laughter and said "well done, goodness knows when you would have had an appointment if you hadn't gone into the lions den and got this letter back, now how about 2.15pm on February 6th? Does that suit you?"

She nodded and said "that's great, thank you" and then sat and waited for a technician to come and sort out her dodgy hearing aids!

So with hearing aids that now worked, her hearing test date fixed, she trundled off back home and that's when she found the goodies in the market.

We have had an early lubbly-jubbly supper and are having an early night for tomorrow is work day, we're going to the shop earlier than usual as she has a tea date with Raja.

I'll have been in my cage all day, she'll bring me home so that I can flap and stretch my arms, then she'll pick up laptop and go off to have more instruction in the use of it.

Hopefully the weather on Thursday will be dryer, for today was pretty dismal and she wants to do at least two days out at the allotments this week.

Good luck hunting those Sprout Tops! We had one for supper tonight with a tiny grating of nutmeg on top of the leaves.. very slurpicious it was too!

GeeGee Parrot.

January 23rd, 2018. 

FINALLY WE GET 'THE WEATHER'.. YES, IT'S SNOWING HERE IN DEEPEST KNIGHTSBRIDGE.

We haven't actually want it but she certainly felt that London was getting unfairly kind and special treatment with regards to the weather.

Yes, she whined about how cold her head was without a hat and moaned upon opening the door and seeing driving rain and having to change into boots and a raincoat but nothing actually stopped her going out.

Today there were plans of going to the library to replenish reading stock. We woke up late, ate eggs, slurped our tea and spoke to a couple of friends.

Tereza called to ask her if she wanted any books to take to the charity shop and said she would drop them off at our door plus an orange sorbet.

Knock knock went Tereza wearing a very cute hat and holding bags of books.. but what was this?

SNOW!

Well, it had to come, actually her narcissi are showing their noses four or five weeks ahead of schedule and we need this icy cold weather to kill off bugs and other such un-desirables and snow is, actually, very good for the soil.

She was going to raid a shop for yumyum but she investigated the vegetable rack instead and found 'crinkly and very wrinkly' root vegetables.

Chop chop into a big pan they went, along with a chunk of ginger root, several garlic cloves, herbs and spices.

It will hubble-bubble for a couple of hours, then she'll put in a gammon hock bone to cook through and it will become our supper.

We have a huge treat this afternoon! We're going to watch one of Raja's 2 disc dvd sets that he gave her for Christmas.

There is Yellowstone National Park or Wild China, I think she'll just put her hand into the bag and pull out the first one she touches, as both will be magnificent. 

That's your lot for now.. stay as warm as you can, keep your head, neck and chest covered, take ginger and cloves and be sensible if you have to use your car, take a shovel, a thermos of hot tea, blankets, a fully charged mobile.. don't take unnecessary risks.

Check on your elderly neighbours, put water, with a bit of olive or sunflower oil in it, and food out for birds.

Wash your dogs and cats feet if they have been anywhere near or on roads that have had salt put down by the local councils.

Read our blog. Well, that goes without saying for isn't laughter the best medicine?

GeeGee Parrot.
January 21st, 2018.

THE MARVELLOUS MRS. MAISEL.. YES, REALLY MARVELLOUS. OH, HOW SHE LAUGHED!

Beg, borrow, steal.. do whatever you have to do folks but you have to get to see this television series.

It is set in New York city in 1958. The main character is Mrs. Miriam Maisel, a young married housewife.

She's married to Joel who has a day time job but who longs to be a stand-up comic but, sadly for Joel, he has not one iota of originality in his bones and his act at the Gaslight Café certainly doesn't bring the audience to its' feet with appreciation of his wit.

Then Joel drops a bombshell, packs some clothes in her suitcase and leaves her. She gets very, very drunk and, in her night clothes, makes her way to the Gaslight, where she gets up on the stage and proceeds to tell the small audience about her life.. with humour and timing!

There's also the small matter of her baring her breasts before the cops arrive to haul her off for indecency and performing without a license.

I am not going to tell you more of the plot.. suffice to say it is certainly one of the funniest things she has ever seen on either a small (tv) or a big screen (cinema).

The dialogue's fast and witty, the costumes spot on, (she's old enough to remember her mothers' clothes in the late '50s, the settings brilliant and last but certainly not least.. the casting of each one of the actors is magnificent.

She had supper with Tereza last night, then they settled down and watched 3 episodes. It's not a dvd, it is on release from Amazon.

She is not very up to speed on things like Netflix or Amazon films but she'll have to learn. This is the first series of this show, it was originally released in March of last year (2017).

It has been awarded two Golden Globe Awards, Best Television Series and Best Actress.. for Rachel Brosnahan who plays Mrs. Maisel.

And received Best Actress award for Rachel Brosnahan and Best Comedy Series at the Critics' Choice Television Awards with Alex Boorstein receiving a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Alex Boorstein, as Susie, is quite, quite brilliant!

It's cold here in London today, the past few days seem like a dream with that sunshine and balmy temperatures of 11 degrees C! apparently, it isn't going to get above 5 degrees C today and it's windy, so there's no allotment'ing for her today.

She has to go to the North End Road to get two bottles of Black Seed Oil and an extension flex.

Time to go, maybe we'll be back later with news about the two new friends for me! Furry stripey friends from Bengal!

GeeGee Parrot.

January 20th, 2018.

A BIG 'STINKY' YELLOW PYTHON GETS A BATH - IT'S ON THE WEB & ROB AKA THE WIZARD CALLED TODAY!

She got a call from an allotment friend whom she had agreed to meet today, Corinne said 'forget it, it's blowing a gale out here, let's meet tomorrow when the weather is supposed to be better'.

So she stayed home and is glad she did, for not only did she realise that she is having an early supper with Tereza tonight but she received calls that she would have missed if she had been busily trundling back and forth with horse manure.

One of the calls was from Rob, Dear Readers, you know him as The Wizard, 'cos he is one! They haven't spoken for months, there was lots of  catching up to be done.

The two big questions were, do you have a daughter or a son Rob and is Melanie ok? He laughed and said his name is Max and yes, that Melanie is ok, she had to have an emergency caesarian as he got stuck but they are both very well.

Then there was a lot more other stuff to be caught up on, how are his parents in Australia and his sister in Italy. What is he doing work wise.. all the stuff that friends want to know and be up to date on.

What good news, she thought when she put the phone down, I'm happy for them all, he's such a nice man.

She heated up something light for us to eat and also steamed a few leaves of Spring Greens, yum.. crunchy, then made a flask of tea and we went into our bedroom, she sat cosily under the bedclothes and I snuggled down on her warm head!

She was mighty pleased that Corinne called and delayed the work plans for their allotment, it IS blowing a gale out there and it's much colder than it was earlier on.

She looked at the papers and then read some of the sillinesses in the Daily Mail! And found the most wonderful video that you just have to watch.

There's a woman in Germany who has a pet snake, a yellow Python, a big snake which looks as if it is extremely well fed and not immediately liable to eat her, which it could.

The video starts off with her talking to it and putting the very heavy front end of the snake into a bath which is half full of soapy water and when most of the snake is in the water, she gently nudges the last metre or so (!!) of the snake with her foot until it is all in the water.

She calls him / her 'stinky'! Stinky! She calls me stinky too and has been known to dump me into the odd basin of warm water with cider vinegar in it but I'm a lot less polite that this fat python, who only hissed mildly at her once.

So there's your entertainment fixed for you! She is, as I have told you before, mortally scared of snakes, as am I, but this video is very funny and we recommend you find it and watch it, it's only 2 minutes long.

I'm having an early night, she's going upstairs for supper, I'll stay here and doze in my night house with walnuts and other goodly things.

Pssst.. I know I've said this before but do you realise we're past the half way mark of Winter, the days get brighter sooner and stay brighter longer.

Spring is on it's way folks.. oh yubba-dubba du!

GeeGee Parrot.

January 19th, 2018.

BISSELL CARPET CLEANING COMPANY HAVE AN EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPT AND BRILLIANT AFTER CARE SERVICE!

Well, here is a post about an unusual subject, it is about her carpet cleaner that she damaged and the incredibly good service that she has received from Bissell, the manufacturer.

Let's wiz back in time to when she did the first thing to this poor 'Powerforce 300 Vacuum'. She sliced a bit off the protective rubber layer of the flex, not a clever thing to do, as it then exposed 'live' wires!

Having given herself an electrical shock by picking up the flex and touching the live wire, she bound a strip of electrical insulation take around the wire.

Last week, she was vacuuming the carpet and nudged a picture which was leaning against her desk, it fell forwards onto the flex and 'BANG', there was a flash of flame, a puff of smoke and the motor stopped.

Many a rude word was said, she switched the machine off, unplugged it from the wall, put it into the hall and finished the carpet off by using a hand brush and dustpan.


She called Bissell customer care and spoke with Libby. Luckily, she had purchased the machine directly from the company so Libby had all the details of the purchase and the model number.

Unluckily, she was out of guarantee but then came the good news, when she had told Libby what she had done, her response was "we can fix those problems, take off the extra tools, disconnect the handle, pack it up in a box, write on the box 'LV14-7LH and a courier will pick it up on Monday, the charge will be £75.00".

She did those things and a courier picked it up on Monday at 13.30 hours.

On Tuesday afternoon the refurbishing department telephoned her to say that the machine had been overhauled and her machine was ready to be delivered. 'BLIMEY.. that was quick', she said!

She asked if it could be delivered on Friday, yes, of course, was the response.

Last night she went upstairs and left a note asking for the delivery man to come down our stairs and to bang on our door.

We were in YumYum HQ, this morning, there was a couple of bangs and upon opening up the door, she saw the courier who had collected the machine on Monday.

"Very quick service" said the man, to which she responded "amazing service, this was ready on Tuesday, the only reason you didn't have it to deliver earlier was that I was working and wasn't able to be here, thank you for coming so early". And off he went.

The machine was properly packed with shredded cardboard, she cut open the box and pulled it out.

Oooh, she thought. they've fitted a really nice new long flex, she screwed the handle into position, plugged the flex into a wall socket, switched it on and vroom, the powerful motor made the brushes spin into action on the hall carpet.

Oh, happiness is a great machine made by a company whose customer service is amazing and whose refurbishment section is first class.

Now, unfortunately for me, it's a bright, dry day, so she's going to the allotment, taking with her the cardboard box which she'll cut up and lay between the new raised beds to stop weeds from coming through.

But before that, she's going to send an email to Bissell to congratulate them on their customer service department and the high level of service they give to customers.

I am full of egg and tea, yes, I would prefer her to stay at home and play with me but nothing would grow if she didn't work her allotments, would it?

So I'll doze whilst she works and hopefully, she'll bring us back a few of those really lubbly-jubbly perpetual cabbage leaves that Beaky loves 'cos they're so crunchy.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 19th, 2018.

HER VISIT TO POUNDLAND SOLVES A MYSTERY & SHE FINDS ALL MANNER OF 'EXCITING' THINGS.

When you are of a curious nature and don't know the of one of your own roses, life can be a bit 'tough' sometimes, for she has searched through numerous catalogues but has never found a photo that matches this rose.

Yesterday she went to Poundland on North End Road to get strong tape with which to close a box. If you're up to date with her blog you will know about this, if not, go and read the last post.

She found the pack of strong tape and was walking towards the front of the store to the tills, when she saw several assistants unpacking skinny tall boxes and various other larger boxes in what is the garden section.

Being of a curious nature, she went to see what they were unpacking and squeaked with joy!

For sitting at eye level was a skinny box with green shoots sticking out of the top, this indicated that whatever the plant was inside the box was alive and shooting and on the front of the box was a photo of her unknown rose!

She lifted it down, turned it around and there was the name 'Kronenbourg', then she remembered where she had found and bought the original.

Years ago, there had been a brilliant 99p Store on Streatham High Street, they had all manner of amazing things for the garden n this particular store, she had bought all her black and red currants, plus her gooseberries from there, plus several rose bushes.

Constance Spry, Compassion, Joro, Pristine and the unknown rose had come from this store and all of them have done her 'proud' over the years.

She remembered that the rose with no name was healthy but not in a box and was reduced to 50p, so she had never known its' name.

Research on-line has shown photos of this hybrid rose, some people have remarked that she has very little scent.

All she can say is that she must have been so grateful at being rescued and planted that she has out-done herself in giving us the most glorious scent for the past fifteen years or so!

'Well, she beautiful and I am very happy to have found another', she thought to herself, 'I'll plant her in the back border'.

And went on hunting through the shelves to see what the assistants were putting out.. 

'Oooh, yes, I'll have those' she thought as she spied Freesia corms (that's not a spelling error), then found Gladioli, two different varieties of Dahlias and several other all flowering plants that will do splendidly either in the large terracotta pots or in the back border amongst the globe Artichokes.

One of the assistants said "would you be interested in onions or shallots, I'm bringing them out next?" She grinned and replied "I most certainly would be interested in onions and shallots, thank you" and so she came away with just what she would have bought at the allotment trading hut, red onions and golden shallots plus fabulous flower bulbs etc.

And a rose.. a beautiful rose.. about whose 'ancestor' she'll write a post as it's a remarkable and truly wonderful tale, just fit to be a tale on a parrots' blog.

Gardeners around the world know this rose for she is very famous and although she wasn't 'born' in England, her name is English, she is called Peace.

GeeGee Parrot.

January 15th, 2018. 

FLY TIPPING & WHY THERE WEREN'T LOTS OF PEOPLE AT THE ALLOTMENTS ON SATURDAY.

'Fly tipping'.. for those of you lucky enough to not know what this expression means.. is a real nightmare for councils and landowners who have rubbish dumped on their land.

It, the rubbish, can be anything from household waste ie mattresses and broken furniture, to old tyres and machinery that no longer works.

On Saturday when she went to the allotments, it was devoid of people until Stuart arrived, he lives near by and cycles over. The other 'locals' aka neighbouring plot holders all live further away and drive in.

She was talking to Corinne today, who shares the plot with Stuart, they are her opposite neighbours and she remarked upon how there was no one at the plots.

"I know" said Corinne "it's because of what happened very early on Saturday morning, a dumper truck broke the chains on the main gate, smashed open the gates, backed in and dumped a huge load of garden waste just inside the gates and took off.

"You cannot get a car in, let alone down the track, it's a monstrous mess, huge chunks of branches and tree trunks, a broken greenhouse frame, old decking boards". 

"Someone has paid a company a serious amount of money to clear their garden but the crew, instead of taking it to the local recycling dump and paying to dispose of it properly, have fly tipped it all at our entrance and pocketed the money".

So that explains why no one was there, now we'll have to organize and pay our local council crew to come and take it away, she thought after they had said their goodbyes and arranged to meet later on this week.

And in the Guardian today there's an article about illegal fly tipping and the companies who take your money and dump stuff where they shouldn't.  

It's a BIG mess.

We are waiting for courier to come and collect our sick vacuum, it's in a huge box sitting just inside the front door, taped up with thick tape from Poundland.

Who, bless this company, solved the mystery of one of her favourite roses. But that story, and more, will be revealed in our next post, so don't go too far away 'cos as she 'trapped' here waiting for the courier, she may well write another post before the day is out. 

It's a wet day, as in 'chucking it down' wet. She's glad that she has to stay in because she doesn't want to be trundling about out there in the rain.

And I'm glad too because I'm full of egg and quite content to sit on her warm head and grind Beaky.

GeeGee Parrot.

January 15th, 2018.

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN ON BBC 1 @ 8.00pm SUNDAY, JANUARY 14th, 2018.

Pssst.. want to hear what it's like to be Queen of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

Then tune into the BB1 channel at 8.oopm local time tonight, it will be different if you live in another country.

There is a 'taster' of this documentary in the Guardian Newspaper today on line. 

We are having a lazy start to the day, it's cold for the temperature has dropped like the proverbial stone, she's got to go out to buy strong parcel tape with which to package up the vacuum machine. It's sick, very sick, like in 'not working sick' and has to go off to be repaired.

The courier is coming to collect it between 09.00 - 18.00 and you know that they would come whilst she was out if she didn't get the tape today!

So seeds and shallots will have to wait for another Sunday, the earth is either frozen or too wet at the moment, so there's no rush to plant anything.

She's skimmed the papers and read, gulp, of the unbelievable debt that a company called Carillion have managed to acquire. Why the gulp, well until this last November, they were the company that managed her allotment site.

These sites of allotments were originally granted a long time ago to the area by the Devonshire Estate, as is Duke of Devonshire, the land was granted for agricultural or sports usage.

Some of the allotment sites were renegotiated and houses were built on them but her site remains one of the 'untouchables' and cannot be built upon.

'So that's why they gave back the management GeeGee, we were all a bit confused but now it's clear, they didn't want the cost of managing it all longer, hopefully it will now be run by our guys again, they were more efficient and hands on than Carillion ever were, that's for sure'.

It is time for her to trundle off down to the North End Road, she certainly isn't going to pay a silly price for packing materials in Ryness on the King's Road when shops like Poundland or Poundworld have what she needs.. for a £1.00!

Pip Pip.. don't forget to tune into BBC1 at 8.00pm tonight to see the documentary with our Queen.

GeeGee Parrot.

January 14th, 2018. 

SNOWDROPS & ROSES..

We awoke to a cold, chillybilly day, I wanted to stay snuggled down on her shoulder in bed but she said such things as "egg and tea GeeGee, let's get up and start our day, we can always come back to bed if it's really grim outside", so, against my better judgement, I was persuaded to 'get up'.

Well, it's a good thing that she wasn't lying and we did get egg and tea because 'out there' in the big outside world aka Knightsbridge, it was cold and damp. 

She pottered about a bit, as mothers do when they secretly wish they were back in bed. But at about midday, she took another look outside and squeaked "oh look, it's cheered up, you're staying here as it's too cold and windy for you but I'm going to the allotments".

And go she did. When she arrived, there wasn't a soul in sight which she thought was a bit weird, no Linda, no Joska, no Ros, just herself and lots of birds whizzing about.

The plan is to build three tall raised beds on the old asparagus bed, it had beans in it last summer and she let the plants overwinter so that the nitrogen nodules would break down and enrich the soil. 

She wasn't planning on staying long, so didn't open up shack or tool shed, she pottered about, picked leaves of chard, landcress and spinach and looked at things.

The beds of garlic are in great shape, it should be a good harvest. The chives are sprouting and all of the other herbs are doing well.

The wild garlic has shot up, it's underneath one of the Stella cherry trees and has loved the thick layer of horse manure that was put down under the cherries last the Autumn.

It was when she went back to the table to pick up her basket that she saw them, clumps of tiny little dark green spiky shoots, she smiled and thought well, how lovely, Spring is on its' way. 

What were they? They're Snowdrops and beside one of the clumps, just poking out of the earth were the tips of some early Narcissi.  

She carried twelve of the longest boards over to the space where the three raised beds will be and spaced them out.

Just before she actually fixes them into placet and using a hoe, not a spade or a fork, she'll give the weeds a hard time, then she will place the boards into position and fix them securely together.

The horse manure will be put in together with buckets of sharp sand, this is to help lighten the soil and she will top the beds off with a sheet of thick black plastic, this will cause the manure to heat up and to rot down faster.

Mr. and Mrs. Worm will love it and do their splendid job of dragging it down into the earth.

On the narrow walk ways between the beds, she will lay a thick layer of cardboard or paper down on the walk ways to discourage weeds.

'Time to go' she said to heself, the air temperature was dropping fast and then she saw Stuart, opposite neighbor, coming down the track with a wheel barrow of manure.

They greeted and wished each other a happy new year and stood looking at the plot where the big sycamore trees have been taken down, what a difference in light and air it has caused. 

They said their goodbyes, she turned to walk off down the track.. and what did she spy?

Not one but several of her fence roses in bloom, 'Gloire de Dijon', she has a heavenly colour but.. roses in January? 

We might have roses and snowdrops in the same vase, what could be nicer?

She's off out early tomorrow to go to the allotment trading hut to purchase red onions sets plus seeds, we'll be back when she comes home.

Chirps to you all, stay warm, just think.. we are nearly half way through winter and the days are getting lighter sooner and staying lighter longer, yes, they are, I can't help it if it's cloudy or rainy, but above all that rubbish, the daylight hours are increasing.. oh yippee!

GeeGee Parrot.

January 13th, 2018.

URTICARIA & RUNNING OUT OF THINGS TO EAT.. WELL, NICE THINGS THAT IS.

Urticaria.. aka Hives are painful, they itch like crazy and erupt on 'tender' skin, like on the inside of your thighs, your stomach and underneath your arms and elbows.

She had never experienced anything like a hive, or so she thought, until she started using the drops prescribed for her Open Angled Glaucoma and they erupted all over her body!

She went back to Moorfields and showed the hives, which were monstrously angry looking lumps to her consultant , who said "Huh, boy oh boy, you're allergic to the preservative in the drops".

And then she remembered having had a severe reaction to the Anti-Tetanus injection that she had when she'd first started working on the allotments all those years ago.

So her eye drops were changed to preservative free prescription and the hives went away.

Recently, she's had more than a few erupt which she put down to eating Maneesh when she is with her Lebanese friends or having tea with Tereza who served pretty little tarts from Paul. Both of course, containing wheat. which she should know  better not to eat.

Normally her hives blow away quite quickly, but despite not eating wheat since Tuesday, she has a couple of 'real corkers' which she is trying hard to ignore as they're seriously itchy.

And as one of them became bigger and more itchy by the minute.. she went through what she's eaten over the past few days and has found out oatmeal, from which her beloved oat cakes are made, clementines, satsumas and avocados are all potential causes of hives.

AVOCADOS! She squeaked in a very aggrieved 
tone of voice, 'I knew that they are poisonous for parrots but I had no idea they could cause hives! Oh, Boo-Hoo'.

Now she'll have to do an elimination diet to see who the culprit is. It won't start today for she and I have gorged on everything.. she had an avocado, we've had teeny clementines, lots of oatcakes and are now nibbling dried Light Mulberries.

To cheer us up and to change the conversation.. BUB's coming to stay here when we go away for a few days in April.

BUB will spend one night with us before we go, so we can show him everything, then we'll go away, BUB will move into our bedroom and Jack..

No, you don't know about him.. he's the son of BUB's brother which makes him mama's 2nd cousin and BUB's nephew.. Jack will arrive and he'll sleep on the big sofa in the sitting room.

She will leave her museum cards for them and they'll have a happy time.

Now it is time to bathe and put drops in and wash supper plates etc. Then we will settle down with a new book and get ready for the weekend.

Her marvelous Bissell vacuum has to go back to the factory to be serviced, the couriers are coming to collect it on Monday, it's in a huge cardboard  box which I was told "no, you are not to nibble or chew it GeeGee".. how boring, I bet Beaky would find it reallyreally crunchy!

See how 'hard done' by, I am.. 

GeeGee Parrot.

January 12th, 2018.

THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN GROSVENOR SQUARE.. BUILT ON LAND LEASED FROM THE GROSVENOR ESTATE.

Most people, including probably 99% of the population of America, think that the old American Embassy, in Grosvenor Square, London was built on land that belonged to the United States of America.

As is the case, I believe, of all of the other American embassies throughout the world.

But this Embassy in Grosvenor Square, built in 1960, did not sit on land owned by the USA.

Why not? Well, because the land is owned by the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Estate and they never sell Freeholds of their land. 

The American government made a song and dance about this as they wanted to 'own' this piece of land and petitioned Parliament in order to make the Grosvenor comply with their wish to 'own' the land.

However, the Duke of Westminster and the trustees of the Grosvenor Estate had, up their sleeves, a bargaining tool that was all powerful.

It was this.. 'The Grosvenor Estate will sell you the freehold of this plot of land in return of properties in America that were stolen from our family after the War of Independence - 1776.'

The American government knew they were beaten, the Grosvenor family had owned most of Maine and New York state. The Grosvenor Estate granted them a 999 year lease.

The American government sold the Grosvenor Square lease to the Qataris for £315 - $431 million and apparently have spent $1 billion on building "a larger, modern and secure state of the art compound for their staff of over 800".

It has been built in wasteland south of the Thames, in between Nine Elms - the wholesale flower market - and Battersea Dogs Home.

It's a hideous new building.. no wonder President Trump didn't want to cut the opening ribbon!

We are getting idler by the day.. except on Wednesdays! But she is actually going out today to give stuff to the shop.

And Beaky would love to nibble that Russian carving that we found sitting on a shelf yesterday afternoon but she caught us in mid crunch, it was very swiftly removed and put into a drawer out of Beak's reach.

Ah well, such is life. My own toys, of which I have several, aren't so appealing. I guess it's the old story of forbidden fruits, we always want other people's 'toys'.

GeeGee Parrot.

January 12, 2018.

PLATO.. THE COMPLETE WORKS.

When she went upstairs for tea on Tuesday, she mentioned to Tereza that apart from reading new authors each week, she was also going to start reading 'The Classics' and she wasn't talking about Austen or Dickens.

She meant Virgil, Homer and Plato and Tereza, who is educating her two girls most beautifully, replied "well, you are welcome to borrow anything that we have" and led mama to the relevant bookcase.

She took down a fat book 'Plato' the complete works, they went back to the kitchen and finished their tea and mama came down with this 'brick' of a book in a her bag.

It's a dismally damp dreary day here in deepest Knightsbridge and she has just given me my breakfast, we woke up very late, and thought about this book.

And she marveled at several things that we, Dear Readers, all take for granted.

We take paper for granted, do we not? So imagine being a writer in the days of Plato. They wrote on Papyrus, an extraordinary and durable material which is / was made in several different qualities, from rough 'paper' to the finest smooth quality that was used for royal documents, for precious books and manuscripts.

Papyrus is made from a reed that grows in the Nile River Valley, highly specialized workshops produced it.

For people who did not have access to papyrus, they wrote on Parchment - a much heavier writing medium -  it is made from calf, goat and sheep skin, the word Vellum comes from the French word veau, this refers to parchment made from the skin of a calf.

Then there is the 'ink' with which they wrote and the coloured inks with which they illustrated their books and, of course, their 'pens'.

The ancients.. ie the Greeks and Romans valued their education extremely highly and wrote letters, books and manuscripts, the wonders of which you can find in the great museums of today.

Then there's the last thing that makes all of these authors works so extraordinary.. they only wrote by natural light or by 'candle' light. There weren't any light switches.. for there was no 'light' to be switched on.

It makes you wonder, doesn't it, well, she certainly did, for it made her marvel at these wondrous books and she hasn't even opened this one yet.

Dismal day or not, she has to go out for some things and I, with my tumtum full of egg and tea am going to doze on a door. We'll be back later at some point and wish you all a pleasant day, even if it's as dismal as it is here.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 11th, 2018.

WHAT A DAY I'VE HAD, WHY I'M PLUMB TUCKERED OUT!

\It started at 07.30 hours with her sticking her hand into my night house and asking me if I wanted to get up?

I issued a minute growl, as if to say "get away with you, you stupid woman, no, I certainly don't want to get up at this dreadful hour, it's almost still dark and, why are you up so early?" 

She took the 'hint' and shuffled off out of the bedroom, I heard the sound of water running and kettle being switched on, blimey, she was serious about getting up.

She came back into the bedroom about half an hour later and she was dressed! Dressed.. at this time, what on earth was going on.

"Come along GeeGee, your yumyum is ready and you've got to get up, unless you want to be left behind, but then you won't meet Pat for coffee or come to the shop and that means you'll be by yourself all day until this evening"

Dear Readers, I was out of my house like a rat down a drainpipe, of course, it was Wednesday.. aka shop going day!

I slurped down my soft boiled egg and beakfuls of LapySang, travelling cage was ready in the big Ikea bag, I slipped in, she covered the top with a paper, put on a jacket, scarf, hat and having picked up her mobile and keys, we left the house and walked to the bus stop.

Where was all the traffic, did everyone know something we didn't, had work been cancelled? She had allowed lots of time to get there but we were at Fulham Broadway and sitting on a comfy sofa in Nero's within twenty minutes! 

She picked up a paper, bought a coffee which the barista was only too happy to put into her thermal travel mug and waited for Pat, who was early as well.

Yabba Yabba.. they hadn't seen each other since before Christmas, so there was much to talk about and catch up on.

She gave Pat the beautiful, vintage linen she had found and was given an enchanting 'slot-through' neck scarf that Pat knitted for her in the wool that she had given her in November.

Then they picked me up and we went across the road into the charity shop where mum volunteers on Wednesdays. Pat had sorted through cupboards and was donating lots of lovely stuff and a couple of books. 

Then Pat left, I was unpacked and settled into a new place, with a clear view of the shop and customers.  

What a busy day, then we had a visit from John, with whom mum had worked at the other charity shop in Bute Street, this was a nice surprise and it ended up with John filling in a form to be taken on as a volunteer.

He has worked for this charity but in a different location, so he is half way there already, especially as his old boss is now our area manager.

I was very happy to be there, I ate, I chatted but you'll be pleased to hear I didn't ring the dreaded landline telephone once, neither did I do the BBC time beeps.

We left just after 5.00 pm, I had had a long day in my cage and she was tired, she was silly last night and ate two delicious tarts from Paul, tarts with pastry made with wheat, she'd itched all night long from the evil hives that erupted on the inside of her elbows and her thighs. Greed.. silly mama.

We're ready for bed and sleep, we've had supper, slurps of hot tea, she has put her drops in and now she'll read for a bit, then I'll go into my night house and we'll go to sleep.

We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow as well, it's all go here kids, "Good night" to you all. 

GeeGee Parrot.
January 19th 2018.