We've woken up to a new month, yes folks, it's February, the weather people said the temperature was going to drop and they were right. Brrr!
She doesn't 'interfere' with soil when there's been a frost, Mr. & Mrs. Worm will have disappeared down into the ground and she wouldn't dream of upsetting her mostly never seen but invaluable fellow gardeners.
It's ok but I don't see her rushing to get out there for it's 'very bright and clear', she knows this signifies there was a hard frost last night.
She doesn't 'interfere' with soil when there's been a frost, Mr. & Mrs. Worm will have disappeared down into the ground and she wouldn't dream of upsetting her mostly never seen but invaluable fellow gardeners.
We went to work at the Charity shop yesterday, and were greeted by two of the biggest piles of clothes you have ever seen!
Plus a large amount of dvd's, books, children's toys and unused kitchen ware!
The pile of clothes on the left were from stores such as Primark, they get tagged with a green code label whilst the clothes on the right were from higher end stores and they get tagged with a blue code label.
It never fails to amaze her the amount of high quality clothes that people donate. A beautiful woman's jacket, a skirt and two tops came in from a very well known shop in Paris, along with a classic vintage Burberry raincoat in immaculate condition.
A pair of dark brown leather women's trousers from Jaeger, two men's jackets from Paul Smith along with six shirts, three Hermes ties and a gorgeous cashmere scarf. All in pristine condition.
These were just two of the donations that she took from people and whom she signed up as Gift Aid donators.
Gift Aid is a system whereby the UK government adds an extra 25% to the value of the item, the donator has to be a UK taxpayer. In the USA you get a percentage of tax back if you donate to charity, here the Government give it to the charity.
So it was a busy day, she had our lunch, poached chicken with rice and root vegetables plus bones for me, she cooked it the night before so all she had to do was reheat it, warm our thermos and put it into her basket.
It was an evilly cold and rainy morning, I was in my travel cage inside my Ikea bag with a thick towel tucked over the cage to stop the rain and bitter wind getting at me. Luckily the traffic was light and the bus got to Fulham Broadway in no time at all.
And the shop was warm, I was unpacked and placed up high so that I could see what everyone was doing. Many of the regulars come to the door to see how I am, one old man thought I was a child's toy squeaking in the back office, we soon put him 'right'!
And now for some 'interesting' news of a completely different source!
She found three pairs of old prescription glasses and took them into a Boots Opticians shop on the North End Road and asked the assistant how much they would charge to change the left lens to her new prescription?
Are you sitting down? I do hope so.. for the answer was really a shock!
"£90.00" said the assistant and we never just do just one lens", needless to say, she thanked her and left the shop and went further on down the road to SpecSavers.
Where she spoke with Alex and asked him if they had a machine that would identify a prescription and if they would change just one lens.
"Certainly I can do that for you. It will take about 5 minutes to do them, please take a seat".
And came back with this.. "the ones in the green box are long distance, the two other pairs are reading glasses, if we are only changing the one lens to match the latest prescription, it would be £19.50 per lens, two new lenses would be £39.00".
She smiled and asked him to go ahead with ordering the lenses, he said that they would be ordered today (yesterday) and be ready for her next Wednesday.
She paid for them, thanked him and left the shop smiling to herself.. blimey.. that's one hell of a difference. £180.00 at Boots and £39.00 at Specsavers, no wonder that Boots Opticians shop never has anyone in it .
We left the shop just before 6pm, the evil weather was still with us and we were glad to be in London where we have more than a couple of bus routes that get us home, they come regularly and that, if push came to shove, we could walk home.
Imagine being in the depths of the countryside like where she grew up, she would have to run a car as buses don't run like they used to, in the '50s she used to catch a bus to and from school until they moved to Bishopsdale and she went off to boarding school.
It's past 11.30am and we are still lolling about, she slept badly, who knows why, but we've had our eggs, it's time to her to shake a leg and to get up and out and about.
Oh, well that was a very pleasant surprise! We have just had telephone call from Anne. It is a long time since she last saw Anne and Roy in the summer, so they had lots of news to give each other.
Now it's past midday and we're still lolling about, ah well, the odd loll about never hurt anyone, did it? We trust you loll about occasionally Dear Readers?
GeeGee Parrot.
February 1st, 2018.
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