Wear Your Poppy With Pride (Inside)

Trevor and I spent this afternoon in prison - as visitors, I hasten to add.

We went through vigorous security checks, lasting for more than an hour. We each took 2 forms of ID, we went through an infra-red machine, were searched thoroughly and Trevor had his thumb-print photographed (required for male visitors only as it was a prison for men). We had our mouths inspected on 3 separate occasions and were checked by sniffer dogs for drugs. Our hands were brushed with some kind of invisible liquid, which showed up on an ultraviolet machine, which served as a permit to exit the prison after our visit. Trevor also had his thumb-print verified on 4 occasions. We had a book, a mouth spray and some tissue temporarily confiscated as NOTHING was allowed in.

All this security and no-one happened to notice the large safety pin I was wearing to attach a poppy to my jacket. It makes you think doesn't it? It's a stringent procedure to prevent drugs entering the prison, which I'm totally in favour of, but sharp dangerous objects? I must admit, I didn't even give it a thought until we were leaving the prison and obviously neither did anyone else.

Safety pins aside, this was our first prison visit and the staff were commendable. They were helpful and efficient and we were impressed.

Halloween Mischief

This is probably the worst rendition of The Witches Chant from Macbeth you will have ever seen. You can tell there was no rehearsal! Trevor does well as my assistant witch, but then he didn't have to do much, other than stir up a few body parts. TURN THE VOLUME DOWN (or even OFF) - I was too close to the mic.

Shakespeare is probably turning in his grave.

Have a hideous Halloween.

TGIF (well nearly)

I realise, with dismay, that I seem to have lost my passion for blogging. I hope that it is only a temporary condition. A year ago, I used to post mindless stuff frequently, but now I only feel the urge to post mindless stuff once in a blue moon. Possibly it is because Facebook has taken over my entire social life. Help, is there such a thing as Sweet FA (Facebook Anonymous) ? I want to sign up immediately!

Right, what's been happening this week? Well, today was rather good if truth be told. Trevor and I provided a 'TRUST ME I'M A PATIENT' workshop at the Barking and Dagenham Primary Care Trust (East London). No doubt you are dying to know all about our workshops. Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway. The workshop is designed to help people within the NHS to deal with change and to look at it from another perspective. It involves roleplay and delegates of our workshop are presented with a scenario and given characters to play, ie. patients, doctors, receptionists, nurses, finance directors, chief executives, councillors, dentists, pharmacists... oh the list goes on.

Providing the 'acting' element to the workshop, I get the ball rolling by playing a disgrunted GP Practice Receptionist, followed by an 85-year-old patient and then an arrogant GP. I am always on stand-by to play any one of the 120 characters that we have created, in case our delegates are a little shy to role-play.

Today's workshop was as smooth as a Swish curtain rail; every delegate gave a good performance and hopefully learnt something. Trevor was brilliant, as always, as the facilitator of the event.

........and now something completely different. Have you seen the film, "Arsenic and Old Lace" filmed in 1941 and starring Cary Grant? I watched it on Sky the other day and howled at Cary Grant's comic part. Loved it!

Our 1st Wedding Anniversary

Trevor and I are delighted to be celebrating our 1st Wedding Anniversary today. I can't believe that it has been a year already!!! It's been the happiest year of my entire life.

Our wedding photos can be viewed by clicking here

Earlier today Trevor and I participated in a 10K (6.2 miles) run at Althorp, Northamptonshire. We surprised ourselves by running with ease and completed the course in 1 hour 9 minutes. OK it wasn't a world record but for a couple of middle-aged, overweight, ex-smokers, we could have done a lot worse!

What have YOU been up to recently? I'd love to hear your news.

Our Visitors

This baby grass snake paid us a visit yesterday......

He came in the house but I shoved him outside - sssssorry Sid.

I found this little beauty (house spider) on the toilet floor.

The Left-Handy Man

Trevor continues to keep himself busy in our new home...... fitting important things like toilet roll holders - [note that this one is on the left; Trev is the only left-handed member of our family]

Trevor and Lucy assemble the barbecue...... for use by left-handed people I expect. Ah, well. I'm not complaining... Trev's welcome to the position of Head Chef.

Web Crash 2007

This is a spoof news report on the day the internet died. It made me laugh :-)