A Rubbish Day!

I do hereby solemnly swear not to litter this post with puns.....😁 Enough of this silliness.

Yesterday I spent the perfect afternoon with fellow Sussex Green Living friends having a tour around the Leatherhead Community Recycling Site and Re-Use shop. Now this might not sound like the average person's idea of a fun day out, but believe me when I say I was in my element! I mentioned in a recent post that we met one of the managers of the site by chance at an unrelated event last month where we had our stand [he lives in my home town]. He was very interested in what we're trying to do despite the whole thing being run on a voluntary basis and extremely enthusiastic about green issues. He invited us along and we took him up on his offer.

Now I'm no business woman, but there's no point being too idealistic and naive under these circumstances. Money talks and if we can get a similar venture, such as the Re-Use shop off the ground here, it needs to be financially viable both in what it makes sales wise and in terms of the amount of tonnage it could divert from landfill. Thankfully we were able to bring a representative from our council along with us to gather the pertinent information. West Sussex officially needs to increase its recycling rate to meet the targets it's been set and they have a big meeting next week to decide what steps they're going to take to bring this improvement about. The Leatherhead shop has been a huge success on all the necessary fronts so here's hoping.

I loved poking about in the shop and they've requisitioned a redundant shipping container, put carpet down and are using it for additional storage. The staff have been trained on what to look for in the skips and gradually more of the public are bringing their stuff to the shop first to see if it's suitable for sale before just chucking it in. In the time we were there it was a constant flow of new stock and people buying other things. It's clearly well supported. I took a few candid shots

Prices are very reasonable. In fact everyone of us went home with our own personal treasure. The lady from the council bought the orange stool below for a thrifty £2 as she is a keen upcycler. As for moi....seeing as I'd been kindly given a lift space was at a premium. I wrenched open the GBT purse and parted with a princely 20 pennies for the two lovely little baskets which will make the perfect addition to my dollshouse!

Arilx

A classic with a twist!

You know it's going to be a quiet blogging week when the highlights of your weekend include getting your eyebrows threaded and draining down the radiators with your husband! It was a deliberate policy to keep it free so we could crack on with the decorating. Am pleased to report that the bedroom is completely finished and I've stripped the last bits of the wallpaper from the front room. Just got to sugar soap the walls beneath the dado, put up the new paper and bob's your uncle we're done. Phew!

With TYM now home my mind wandered aimlessly whilst scraping away and for some reason I started thinking about some of the things he used to like when he was much younger. For quite a while he was a huge Dad's Army fan. At the time my then lovely boss paid for all of the staff plus families to see the stage play. Leslie Grantham [erstwhile disgraced Eastenders actor] was cast brilliantly as the spiv Private Walker and the whole production was authentically brilliant. It will come as no great surprise that the audience clapped with great gusto when they got to the famous Pike clip!

I could not then help but giggle when this appeared in my inbox last week!

Classic British humour!

Arilx

Moth eaten.

Why does Murphy's Law dictate that when you see a magnificent moth with the most incredible tangerine colouring on its inner wings you only have your crappy phone camera with you to take a photo eh?😆

With the sun in my eyes I snapped away and hoped for something.....so with it's my sincerest apologies that I share this rather raggedy, moth eaten image and below a link of what the Garden Tiger Moth should look like to give you an idea why I was so over the moon when I spotted it flying past and then settling on the grass at Eastbourne recently.

http://butterfly-conservation.org/11908-1670/garden-tiger.html

Arilx

The times they are a changing.

You know how much more mainstream the LGBTQIA issue has become when your local supermarket uses it as part of a product display!

The white Skittles packets caught my eye. I know it's a marketing ploy, but it did please me to see it. I know there's still a long way to go, but with loved ones [family and friends] who have suffered from the prejudice of others, it is good to see it starting to open out. Brighton and Hove Pride starts today and is on all weekend. It has become a massively popular annual event in Sussex.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Arilx

On owls, hunting bras and fried peas.

Now that's a title combination to conjure with....all I did yesterday was to stand back and really pay attention to the little things which normally pass me by.

There's a rather elderly and cantankerous cat who lives at one of the houses I clean....she's a silver tabby who is rotund to the point of being almost triangular and she's quite a character. Frankly she's not that keen on folks and tends to hiss threateningly at you if you go too near. I've always been in her bad books because I disturb her 22 hour sleep with the much hated hoover, so I was never going to be welcomed with open paws was I! 😼 I just give her a wide berth except this past couple of months for reasons only known to feline logic I have become flavour of the month...she now rushes to meet me and is all over me like a rash demanding attention. On this visit I was puzzled to find a fairly large toy owl sitting in the middle of the hall...I was amazed to discover that apparently she "hunts" this owl out everyday and brings it to her owner as a gift accompanied by much shouting about her generosity. If I tell you it sits at the back of a shelf which she has to climb up to reach and she's not either fast or terribly mobile you'll see why it's such a feat...I have to say I would prefer it if Humphrey switched to such inanimate "presents"....the last one we smelt before we found it eww!

Speaking of Himself....he's back in the doghouse. Now I am a lady without much frontage, so I'm really not in the market for a complicated affair when buying an over the shoulder boulder holder. Please can someone explain to me in the simplest terms why brassieres are relatively so expensive....I really don't do frou frou...just something plain suits me fine. It pains me when I have to wrench open the GBT purse and buy a new one, but stump up I did recently. Naturally I took full advantage of the supermarket sale before making any rash purchases. Said item has been washed and had been left in a pile of clean laundry to be put away...as you might imagine I am not thrilled to find that the wretched cat has decided that it is the perfect item to hunt during this spell of inclement weather....not only has he been pouncing on it he has also been gnawing at the thing.....he had the temerity to look deeply offended when I reclaimed it and scolded him.

As for fried peas?! What you might well ask! Rest assured I'd never heard of them either....these were given to me by TYM. Apparently he developed the taste for them when he was abroad in Bangladesh [although judging by the fact that he'd eaten the whole tube of Pringles at 5am he's not lost his crisp habit either!]. I have to say I was a little dubious, but I can report that they make a rather moreish savoury snack and not dissimilar to elements of Bombay Mix.

Right that's quite enough from me for one day!

Arilx

Learn to gurn!

I look to these type of figures as inspiration for the special type of photo face I have perfected over the years. Started in my early teens in the photo booths, I have finely honed my art....blinking at the wrong time is a speciality as is my many and varied ranges of gargoyle expressions!

I've never been that comfortable in front of a lens and Mr GBT has had to snap away surreptitiously over the years...wouldn't you if this was how your wife looked at you when she caught you! Mind you it hasn't stopped him despite all the fierce glares. Even on my wedding day I pulled a few corkers!

Gradually though I am getting a little better and even occasionally, I have been known to crack a smile. Not too often though....new behaviours are slowly learnt!

Arilx

Lammas 2017

Apologies for the late good wishes today. Hope you've had a good day today whatever path you tread.

Arilx