REALLY FRESH FOOD NOT WRAPPED IN PLASTIC + PAULINE BONAPARTE BORGHESE AND HER HOUSE

YubbaDubbaDoo.. Oh, we are having a lovely day. Whilst we were watching the programme on BBC iPlayer, two pots were hubble-bubbling away on the stove.

One pot was full of a glorious mix of sweet potato, squash, onion, carrot, parsnip and swede together with fresh turmeric and ginger roots with several cloves of garlic.

The other had pulses and beans which had soaked overnight and were cooking with herbs from the allotment.

In January the winter vegetables are so delicious that our meals are sometimes just that, vegetables with pulses. 

Yesterday she took a large thermos of vegetables and went off to the Balham Farmer's Market to meet up with Debbie of Ellie's Dairy.

Rather her than me I thought, for oh, my ears and whiskers it was chilly, but she looked very stout when she left here for she is not stupid and she was wearing multiple layers of clothing, plus a hat and gloves.

The market was quiet but the vegetable man from Dorset was there and she came away with a bag of very fresh purple sprouting brocolli.

Debbie dropped her in the King's Road and she scuttled into the library. 

Time for some serious serious reading she thought and came away with two biographys. One on Pauline Bonaparte*, Napoleon's sister and John Jacob Astor, aka America's first multimillionaire.

Upon Emperor Bonapartes abdication in April 1814, his sister Pauline sold her home, the Palais Borghese, together with most of her assets to improve her brothers living conditions on Elba, she was the only one of his family to go into exile with him.

It was bought by the Duke of Wellington as an embassy for the British Government. He bought it with all of its contents, the artwork, clocks (some of which are priceless and came from Versailles), furniture and stables. 

He moved into the house - known formally as the hotel de Charost and then as the Palais Borghese - on Monday the 29th of August, 1814.

Wellington was transferred in 1815 to Vienna and  that year Napoleon escaped from Elba and rallied his troops, the duke was given overall command of the allied forces and after the Battle of Waterloo, he became the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Army of Occupation in France.

Some years later, another building next door was purchased for embassy offices and the Palais Borghese is now the official residence of the British Ambassador to France but it is still used a the location for many official occasions.

HISTORY.. isn't all dry and dusty, that's for sure, and Pauline Bonaparte certainly wasn't!

GeeGee Parrot.
January 6th, 2019.
PostScript: *Pauline Bonaparte was married twice. Her first husband was General Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc. Her second was Prince Camillo Borghese. She died on 9th June, 1825 aged 44 of pulmonary tuberculosis. 

BBC iPLAYER WATCHING 'BACK IN TIME FOR SCHOOL' EPISODE 1.

She remembered her BBC iPlayer sign in details and whoosh.. we went back in time to school life in the Victorian era.

First of all, the desks were exactly the same as she had at her schools! Her schools were certainly as strict in the 50's and 60's as they were portrayed in the programme with only one difference.

At one of her schools.. woe betide you if you were caught running downstairs or in any corridor..

There were surprising things that she learnt. 

The programme started in 1895 and at that point in time, boys and girls were both together in mixed classrooms and they were taught Latin, Maths and Science. 

But in 1902 school inspectors separated the pupils and deemed that girls would no longer learn maths or science and should learn needlework.

Domestic science was added to the girls curriclum in 1908, the boys were taught how to shoot with a rifle and joined the Schools Rifle Association which had been formed in 1906.

There were surprising details too, the fact that the drinking age used to be 12 and that in 1902 it was raised to 14! Yes, before then it was quite legal for children to go into inns or public houses and order alcohol as long as they were twelve or older..

BLIMEY!!

Most children, and remember that they were used as a work force on farms, in factories and in mines, left elementary school aged 12. 

They showed about the Temperance Movement going into schools to get pupils to take the oath and pledge not to drink. 

About how Jujitsu was introduced and taught to protect the girls and women Suffragettes from assaults.

This first episode of the programme ended in 1914 and we all know what happened that year.. yes, WW1 and the call up to fight. 

The next episode - episode 2 - will be shown on January 10th at 8pm in BBC2. This time she'll set herself a reminder and turn off her telephone!

GeeGee Parrot.
January 6th, 2019.

WALL CIRCUS PROMOTES THE ART OF WRITING "THANK YOU" NOTES

You go out to find a gift, you buy the wrapping paper, you write the birthday or christmas card which you enclose in the parcel, you go to the post office and pay for the package to be delivered and or / you paid money into their savings account.

Only to hear.. nothing.. nada.. zilch.. none of them had the manners to say "thank you".

So when she received properly hand written thank you cards for Christmas gifts she gave to another family's children last Christmas, the silence from the family, to whom she gave gifts last year, was made very noticeable.

"That's their lot GeeGee, if they cannot be bothered to write a thank you note or to pick up the telephone, why should I bother to send them anything ever again" was what she said this morning.

So let me tell you about these very smart cards she received.. they are personalised with the child's name and are very snappy!

                    www.wallcircus.co.uk

But you don't have to be a child to have or use personalised stationery, at £12.00 per pack for 15 cards and envelopes, with free postage if you live in the UK, we think they are a great deal and that you'll agree when you see the website. 

Children have to be taught to say or write thank you and what better way is there than to give them something that is very cool and which will delight the recipient of any age and so they are perfect gift for young and old.

According to their website they take:
American Express, MasterCard, PayPal & Visa.

She used to have very plain incredibly chic cards made for her by Henningham & Hollis of Mount Street but they closed forty years ago and she moved her business to Smythsons.

However, she'll certainly be placing an order for cards at Wall Circus.. I wonder if they do pictures of garden equipment or sheds? They might, for there are lots of other things to look at, all designed by an graphic designer and illustrator who spent 16 years designing posters and advertising campaigns for the entertainment industry.  

So there you are.. that's sorted out what you can give as gifts to friends, of all ages, this year.

It's a cold dreary day, she's off to do some work.. then we'll have a late hot lunch of delicious vegetables.. Pip Pip.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 6th, 2019.   

OH.. WHAT A SILLY MAMA...

Well, we hope you watched the programme last night on BBC2, because we didn't!

She spent the afternoon and early evening sorting out stuff.. you know what I mean by stuff, it lives in cupboards and drawers or on shelves and you completely forget you have it and that.. is when it needs to go to another home.

But just before 8pm she received a telephone call from overseas and after it ended, she forgot to switch on the television, so we missed the programme we told you to look out for.

Well thank goodness for BBC iPlayer is all I am going to say. How amazing.. I must be growing up to exercise such diplomacy! Or I am fearful that she'll take umbrage and refuse to share her supper with me. You see, I know what supper will be.. and oh, slurp.

We have friends who had twins at the end of November, very premature twins, and friends have been dropping off boxes of cooked so that busy new mother Andreea doesn't have to cook.

But it got to the point over the New Year that there was, literally, no more space in their chilly white or frosty larders = fridge or freezer to those of you who aren't old Dear Readers of my blog! 

And when my mama called round with something a couple of days ago for Andreea, she was given a few boxes of cooked food.

We're having chilli con carne for supper tonight and will watch last night's programme.

That's your lot for now.. she has to get out and about.. Pip Pip.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 4th, 2019.

'BACK IN TIME FOR SCHOOL'.. BBC2 8pm. JANUARY 3rd, 2019.

You'll have to wait for news about our Christmas and New Year for she is eager to tell you about a programme that is being shown tomorrow night.

                 Back In Time For School

Episode 1/8. BBC2 @ 8pm. January 3rd, 2019

This documentary takes very 21st century school children back in time through seven eras. 

From the 19th century through time and culture changes. Starting with the very strict rules and formality of Victorian school life that are a world away from todays' classrooms, the first episode starts in 1895.

The fifteen children and three teachers go back to when girls learnt how to sew and boys learnt Latin and are fast forwarded through 100 years of British education.

As she is old enough to have been taught both at school, she thinks it will be interesting to watch. 

The children all thought it would be deadly.. fancy being deprived of telephones / iPads / social media etc, etc and having to learn how to write with a quill in ink.. no, there weren't any biros or fountain pens in the age they went back to!

But they found it interesting and all agreed that to talk to other and discuss things face to face whilst sewing a fine seam or revising their Latin verbs.. amo, amas, amat (I love, you love, he / she loves) was great.

So there you are.. that's you sorted for tomorrow's television viewing - 8pm.. BBC2.

Now she has to plug in the machine and start shredding paperwork as it is six years old.

Pip Pip..

GeeGee Parrot.
January 2nd, 2019.

ADELE PARKS.. WRITES EXCELLENT BOOKS!

In case you had been asleep whilst reading my posts over the past eight years, she reads books.. a lot of books.

She is a member of the local library which is located in the Old Town Hall on Kings Road and a mighty fine library it is too!

With a thriving membership, comfortable chairs and up to date newspapers, excellent librarians, a brilliant research department located directly above the lending library with computers and printers and several rooms in which they have lectures on all manner of subjects.

And as long as she has her membership card with her, she is allowed to borrow books from the central library - which is enormous and located within the new Town Hall up on Hornton Street, off Kensington High Street.

Talking books, films and music are also there to be borrowed and if, by some silly chance, she forgets to take her books back and clocks up a fine, she is only too happy to pay it.

How strange you much be thinking, why would she be happy to pay a fine? Well, work it out. She borrows hundreds of books a year free of charge and thinks it only right to pay back into the system that allows her to do this.

Do you support your library, thereby supporting authors - who get paid for every book that is borrowed from a library - do you read, watch films, enjoy lectures? Then get down to your local library and support them in which ever way you can.

Now back to the title.. have you ever read any of Adele Parks novels? You should for she's a clever author and the twists and turns in this last book that she has just finished reading left her stunned.

'THE STATE WE'RE IN' by Adele Parks.

I'll be back soon to inquire about your Christmas and New Year.

In the meantime, we send you our best wishes.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 2nd, 2019.

I'VE BEEN IN JAIL.. A NEW JAIL.

Oh.. BOOHOO.. Yes, it's truly a very big boohoo. For our wonderful pet supply shop Animal Fair, which was in Abingdon Road, London W8, has closed.

She bought my food and vitamins there and it was also my jail, aka the place where I went if she had to go away and wasn't able to take me.

She telephoned them a couple of weeks ago but the phone was disconnected and when she went there, the premises were being transformed into something else.

And no one in any of the offices either side of the old shop knew anything. BooHoo.. no more Sandy or Colin or Biggles, she was Colin's Scarlet Macaw who lived in the shop.

So she took me miles away to another pet shop, having telephoned them first to see if they would have me to stay and they were enchanting! 

Stef, who was worried as I was being stubborn and not eating, boiled me sweet potatoes as he knew Mia, his own African Grey, is partial to them and got me to start eating.

Which was a good thing for I was there for five days! But I am now home and settling back into our own routine. 

We haven't posted for ages for all is not well here. She has another medical problem which is very serious, caused by a medical person neglecting to pass on some test results to her GP.

Last Sunday she ended up in an A&E department. They saw her very quickly and the doctor was appalled at what she saw and has written a complaint to the head of the department at the other hospital where she was tested, as has her GP whom she saw the next day.

But none helps the situation, the medical team, whom are now treating her, say that until the infection has cleared and the inflammation gone, they cannot do any further tests to ascertain the level of damage.

It was SO cold that she switched on the boiler and the radiator in our bedroom! Normally we sleep in a cool room, but on Friday when she went out to bring me home, it  wasn't cool or cold.. it was icy!

And yesterday, it bucketed down with icy rain, she received a selfie from Debbie goaty mum, we recognised her hat and eyes and she was wearing a coat that mama had given her, it's Bill's coat that he used to leave with her for when he came to stay. 

It is too long for her but perfect for Debbie and she's happy knowing that it is safe and being used.

Today it is bright, clear, dry and much warmer! We awoke to a blue sky and sunshine, what an amazing difference! But she isn't crazy and much as she would have loved to go to the allotments, it wouldn't be sensible. 

She's got a new stash of library books, a good supply of yumyum, so we're hunkering down and being quiet.

She read a book yesterday that is haunting her. It deserves a post unto itself and so I won't tell you anything apart from the author's name, which is:

Adele Parks.

Have any of you read any of her 12 books? 

Whoops.. It's past our lunch time. I'd better give her a poke with old Beaky.

GeeGee Parrot.
December 16th, 2018. 

TODAY IS THE 18th OF NOVEMBER AND CAN ANY OF YOU REMEMBER WHY THIS DATE IS SO IMPORTANT?

It's the date in 2004 that she drove to Shropshire to collect me from where I was born.. yes folks, today is our 14th anniversary!

Fourteen years, goodness me, that's a long time, isn't it? When I arrived, I was a little parrot and so well behaved, now I'm fully grown and as naughty as a bag load of monkeys and veryvery naughty monkeys, they are too apparently!

I don't have a lot to report or tell you.. she went out yesterday to take stuff to the allotments and whilst she was there, took a few photos of roses and sweet peas, they're as happy as Larry because their roots are in a very raised raised bed (work that one out). 

Jack Frost strikes at ground level so she's raised the level of the earth in her beds to a minimum of 5cms - 12" and in some of them, it is 8cms - 20" deep.

It was far too cold for me to go. especially as I've been a Silly Billy and taken off my vest aka waistcoat and nibbled one of my shoulders.. sigh.. well, what would YOU do if your mama was / had been ick-dick = sick and confined to 'barracks' for nearly seven weeks?

Exactly, you would get a bit 'stressed' as well, to put it politely! So the waistcoat had to go.

However, let me tell you about other stuff. The weather here in London is glorious, lots of trees still have their leaves on and they're golden and red, a truly magnificent sight on the allotments is a Silver Birch whose leaves are a pale gold.. 

We have had a couple of days of heavy rain but nothing like other parts of the country or on the continent, poor Italy has been hit with horrific floods and hectares of the Dolomite range have been denuded of trees by avalanches of trees being swept down the mountains by torrential rain.

Our politics, well, let's not go there, because no one knows what is going on, least of all me or her.

What I do know is that she had a lovely lunch today when she met up with an old friend but I only had the remains of my breakfast plus some slices of citrus fruit and they were all cold so a smidgen of hot food wouldn't go amiss.

Fourteen years, which is almost as long as she and Dagga Parrot were together - they lived together for over sixteen years. I have a couple of years to catch up on him and then, perhaps, I'll be able to 'train' her a bit more.. fat chance.. that has made me laugh so much I slipped off her head!

Chirps to you all.. we are both full of chirp and hope you are too.

GeeGee Parrot.
November 18th, 2018.  

'GREEKS BEARING GIFTS' BY PHILIP KERR AND KNIGHTSBRIDGE IS WET.. AS IN VERY WET.. TODAY.

If you are up to date with my blog, you will remember that earlier this week we didn't get the rain that they forecasted and it has been mild and pleasant.

Well, that all changed this afternoon and it's wet out there and she's thanking her lucky stars that she raided the North End Road market yesterday and gathered up eggs, fruit and other bits n' bobs.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it to the library and is out of library books but luckily, Tereza, our upstairs neighbour had given her a bag of books for the charity shop, so she stuck her hand into that and came out with a cracker of a good book.

It's a novel woven around history, history that wasn't in her history books when she was at school.

'Greeks Bearing Gifts' by Philip Kerr.

Based in Germany and Greece in 1957, the book revealed to her the story of the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Thessaloniki.. aka Solonika and the theft - plundering of their gold and other items of value.

The ramifications of that plundering still rumble on to this very day because Germany has never paid one pfennig, mark or euro to Greece or to the Jewish survivors in compensation.

We recommend you read this book. Everyone should read history.. especially people who think of themselves or call themselves politicians ..

Philip Kerr, who sadly died of cancer on the 23rd of March, 2018 just before this book was published, wove an extremely clever tale of espionage, trickery, murder and subterfuge.

He wrote several books and armed with his name, she will be getting them out of the library in order to read more of this man's excellently crafted work.

It's now pitch dark out there and heavy rain is falling, we are grateful to be indoors and dry, with both food and water to hand. 

A great many others, some through no fault of their own, are much less fortunate.

GeeGee Parrot.
November 10th, 2018.
PostSript: Tomorrow at 11.00 o'clock on the 11th day of the 11th month 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1. 

The phrase 'The war to end war ' was penned by H. G. Wells.

If she was well enough, she would be going to commemorate this anniversary at our local church, St.Columba in Pont Street.

This site certainly knows about war because the original church, built in 1884, was destroyed by wartime enemy bombing on the night of 10th May, 1941.   

EQUIFAX - SUPPOSEDLY A SECURE FINANCIAL COMPANY - WERE HACKED & SHE'S RECEIVED DODGY TEXTS

Enough about health viruses.. here's something that will make you 'wonder' about the level and quality of security that our financial institutions have in place.

For many years now the banks have been warning their customers about not releasing details of any kind to anyone about their accounts and especially not to respond to any calls and text messages about their bank accounts and NEVER to transfer any amount of money.

She's never shared any detail of any account with anyone and if she has to discuss anything with a bank, she goes into a branch to talk with someone.

In September 2017, the giant financial company Eguifax was hacked and 400,000 UK consumers had their personal details stolen. 

NICE.. huh! Maybe their HQ should have their 'windows' blocked up in the interests of security.

She immediately changed log-in details and passwords and was thankful that she had never had any links to any accounts in / on her mobile / cellphone.

So she was 'amused' to receive - recently for the first time ever - a slew of text messages saying that her two accounts with a bank had been frozen due to three attempts to use a Debit card and would she please respond to a particular telephone number to speak to someone about this.

'You have to be joking, I don't think so' she thought and picking up her landline, she called the banks customer service number.

Edward took her call and sighed and said "Oh dear, another one, I am so sorry about this but ever since that breach at Equifax and particularly this week, scammers have been incredibly busy and I cannot tell you how many calls we have received about exactly what you have experienced, your accounts are ok, nothing has happened."

She thanked him.

NOT NICE.. And the banks, who are closing their branches left right and centre, wonder why we, their customers, are losing our trust in them.

I don't have a bank account and I don't have any money because she doesn't give me 'pocket' money, 'why not'?, I hear you ask, "well you see, I don't have any pockets". 

"Boom Boom" as Basil Brush used to say!

GeeGee Parrot.
November 10th, 2018.
PostScript: Which financial institution is window-less in the interests of security?