Here We Are Again

Well Folks. Here it is again. Turning up like the proverbial bad penny. What, you may well ask, am I rambling on about?

Then one and only annual show we all love to hate, but can't resist and we still all tune in to see just how awful and excruciating the contest will be.

I am, of course, referring to the one and only Eurovision Song Contest!

A few interesting facts about Eurovision and the winners.

Did you know that then UK has won the contest five times, and been in the top ten no less than fourteen times since 1985. The UK is third in the Euroviom League table.

There are two semi finals, but UK, France, Germany and Spain have an automatic entry to the finals because they contribute the most money to the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) (Who said money doesn't talk? - well as far as the Uk is concerned it certainly can't sing!)

The country with the highest number of wins is Ireland. (It just shows what poor taste some of the voters have!) It has won the contest no less than seven times, but at present it is going through a bad spell withn only one top ten finish in the last ten years.

Each song must be no more than three minutes in length (I think this is because the poor suffering public cannot endure any more!) and no more than six people can appear on the stage at any one time.

Live animals have been banned from appearing since 2008 (They'd probably give some of the performers a good run for their money.) There was a rumour that Austria might use live animals in 2003, but in the end they used cardboard cutouts. (They were more entertaining than the performers!)

So how well do we expect the UK to do this year? Well the bookies are not very convincing, offering odds of 150/1 against a win for Josh Dubovie and his song "That Sounds Good to Me."

Even Pete Waterman, who has written the song (with his old partner Mike Stock) says it is "highly unlikely" the UK will win the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo this weekend, but that he is giving it his best shot!

Anyone for a Shampoo?

It was a lovely hot day, and Hannah had called round, so what better time than to start giving Ruby a shampoo?

Refreshing Warm Water

Getting in a bit of a lather

Rinse off

My Goodness you do smell nice!

Best of pals (note the crossed paws!)

Judge For Yourself

Magistrate Austin Molloy

We live in a crazy world. I sometimes wonder if the lunatics are running the asylum.

Where would you find a magistrate censored for telling a couple of louts exactly what he thought of their despicable behaviour, before sentencing them?

Fifty Seven year old magistrate Austin Molloy has been taken to task by a magistrates clerk Christine Dean over his remarks that two boys who had scrawled racist and sexually abusive graffiti over prayer books in Blackburn Cathedral and caused £3,000 of damage, including damaging a priceless cross were "Scum."



His actual remarks before sentencing them were "Normal people would consider you absolute scum." Boy A was given an 18 month supervision order and ordered to pay £1,500 compensation costs. Boy B was given a 12 month supervision order and and ordered to pay £100.



Mr Molloy has stepped down form his position as chairman of the bench, and may face disciplinary action for his remarks, while sentencing the two 16 year old louts.



But the father of one of the teenage boys insisted yesterday that "I totally agree with what Mr Molloy said. He should get his job back. The whole family is absolutely disgusted with what my son's done, and he knows, He has been a stupid boy. We're church going people who can't understand why he did it. I'm not going to make excuses for him. He is not going to get away with it. He will be punished"



Boy B's mother has said she will officially complain about Mr Molloy's remarks, but Boy A's father said "There will be no complaint from me."



Earlier this week Mr Molloy, from Darwen, Lancs, said he had discussed and agreed his comments with his two fellow magistrates before sentencing the boys.



He said, " We are trained and told to communicate with young offenders, any offenders for that matter, in a language they understand. You have got to use language appropriate to those people so they understand exactly what you are doing. We felt we had to discipline the young boys and that's the language we used to make them understand the gravity of the crime they had committed. It was a disgraceful crime. We considered it at length in the retiring room and it was the appropriate statement that we agreed on."

Poor little louts. It smacks of the left wing politically correct brigade putting in their unwanted fillings yet again.

If I had my way I'd not only publish their names and addresses, but make sure that their photos were displayed prominently in all the local public buildings too, along with a list of the misdemeanours they have committed and the punishments they have received. It might just deter future scum!

Newcastle Brown Ale

I was browsing through the internet BBC news and came across an interesting news item. It appears that Newcastle Brown (the famous Tyneside Ale) is to be no longer brewed there. It was, until very recently brewed at the FED Brewery which is alongside the main A1 as you travel into Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne - not very far from the famous Metro Shopping Centre near Dunston.



Heinekin UK, which owns the Fed brewery in Gateshead, is switching its operations to the John Smiths in Tadcaster. The last batch of ale was made two weeks ago, and desptched from the Dunston site on Thursday.



John Merrington, the former commercial director is quoted as saying "There's more Newcastle Brown drunk in America than is drunk in Britain, and perhaps if Geordies had supported it a bit more in recent years then it would have still been around in Tyneside."



Newcastle Brown has been brewed on Tyneside since 1927.



It took me back some years, as I used to study at Bretton Hall (near Wakefield) which was a department of Leeds University. One of my fellow students was a lad called Jeff Dowson, who came from the Dunston area, and every time he returned from home he would always have a crate of Newcastle Brown with him. He did a superb marketing job for them, and by the end of three years most of the intake were drinkers of Newcastle Brown!

Maybe if Jeff had been doing his stuff today, the brewery would still be open at Gateshead!

Misty Mornings and Strange Wedding Requests

I was up quite early this morning (6.45 am) and when I looked out of the kitchen window I thought there was a fire in the fields at the back of the house. On closer examination it turned out to be low cloud hugging the dip between the fields.

I have previously mentioned that the wedding season has started with a vengeance, and that due to the alteration in church rules, almost anybody can get married at any Church of England now. This has led to some strange requests for wedding music.

In the next few weeks I have had a request for the Eva Cassidy song Fields of Gold and at another wedding a request to play the Alicia Keys song Empire State of Mind. What on earth this has to do with a wedding I have no idea! just take a look at the lyrics......

New York concerte jungle where dreams are made of

There's nothing you can't do

Now you're in New York

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you

Hear it for New York, New York, New York.

At another wedding the bride is walking in to someone singing (I've no idea what the singer is singing as she is bringing her own backing tracks.) She's also singing during the signing of the registers and when the couple leave church.

Another wedding the request is for The Bridal Chorus for the Entry of Bride, The Wedding March for the Exit of the Bride & Groom, but no hymns. Why bother getting married in church I ask myself. It must be the setting, the bells etc.

Thanks goodness Hannah has chosen hymns, and suitable classical music!

The Nun's Story

A Vicar has to pay a visit to the doctor.

As he opens the surgery door a nun comes through the door. She is red faced and crying. The Vicar tries to comfort her, but the more he tries, the more she cries. He attempts to put his arm around her, and the result is she runs wailing down the street.

When it is the Vicar's turn to go into the surgery he can't help mentioning to the doctor the nun he has just seen. "Whatever was the matter with her?" he asks the doctor.

"Oh!" says the doctor, "I've just told her she is pregnant."

"But is she?" asks the Vicar.

wait for it...............

"No", said the doctor, "but it's a great way to cure her of her hiccups!"

A Little Something to Brighten up your Tuesday Morning.....

A farmer goes out to milk his cows one day during an extremely cold spell, and to his amazment he discovers that they are all frozen solid, and he is unable to get a drop of milk from any of them.

He considers for a moment, phoning the vet, but, being a typical thrifty farmer, he is loathe to do this as he knows it will cost him serious money.

Then he has a bright idea. He prays to God and asks for an angel to come and thaw his cows out. He waits, and nothing happens.

Reluctantly he makes his way to the phone to ask the vets help. Just as he is about to lift the receiver there is a huge flash of light, and when he recovers from the shock, he sees a little old lady gently hugging one of his cows. After a few minutes the cow is completely recovered. He watches in amazement as the little old lady goes from cow to cow gently hugging each one in turn, until finally the whole herd have been thawed out.

He dashes out side and asks the little old lady if she is the angel he had asked God to send him.

"Oh No!", she replies, "I'm Thora Hird!"

Here We (Don't) Go Again!

It's that dreaded volcanic ash in action again! Eyjafjallajokul is continuing to cause problems with the volcanic ash spreading across parts of the United Kingdom.

Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports have resumed some flights (after 07.00BST), but because the ash in the the flightpath of incoming planes to Gatwick, no inbound flights are coming at the moment.

Heathrow arrivals are being restricted to 30 per hour (instead of the usual 42 per hour) and knock on disruption is likley to continue throughout Monday.

An area stretching from the south of England to Northern Ireland, and over much of mainland Scotland to the Shetland Isles is also affected. No fly zones have been imposed here until 13.00 hrs.

Manchester, Leeds/Bradford and Liverpool are open after restrictions have been lifted.

Restrictions are likely across different parts of the UK until at least Tuesday.

Already there are rumblings of discontent. Sir Richard Branson has called the latest restrictions "beyond a joke." British Airways said airlines should be able to decide whether it was safe to fly as the current approach "was overly restrictive."

Quite a Busy Week

This week has been quite a busy week.

Apart from the usual "events", it started off on Monday with a visit from the Gas Board Engineers to Service the Boiler and Fire appliances.

As they hadn't been for over a year I had received a letter in the post requesting that they visit in the next two weeks, and I had the choice of day and time. I just had to log on to their website and choose my time and day. I chose Monday between 08.00 and 10.00. As I got back from dropping the good lady at work, the phone was ringing, and it was the service engineer to say that he was on his way and would be with me within the next ten minutes.

On Tuesday I had a Toddler Praise service to play for at church at 9.30 am. These usually take place once a month, and precede my regular visits to Crossflatts Primary School, where I play the piano for the younger children to sing to.

On Monday morning I had also had a phone call requesting that I play for a funeral at St Lawrence in Pudsey on Wednesday. As this is my TIC Day in Skipton that meant that I couldn't attend the TIC. We went straight from the funeral to do the "Big Shop" for Nana in Booths in Ilkley.

I had a phone call from Holy Trinity Church requesting that I play for a funeral there on Friday at 12.00.

I have a wedding to play for at All Saints on Saturday, and another wedding to play for on Sunday, followed by a concert with my Male Voice Choir at Eccleshill United Reformed Church. I do the compering as well as conducting, so preparing for a concert not only entails rehearsing the choir, but also putting together notes on the songs, and funny tales for the concert too!

The Sunday wedding was down on my wedding list, which I get e mailed to me from the church office, and was scheduled to start at 1.00 pm. This week I contacted the vicar who is officiating to tell him that I had not heard from the couple as to what hymns and music they would like. I mentioned all the details of the wedding (Couples name, time of wedding, date etc) and I got an e mail back saying that the wedding had been re scheduled to commence at 1.30pm.

I had already put the start time of the concert back because of the original 1.00 pm start for the wedding, now I would have to do some more juggling! I e mailed the vicar and suggested that he tells the bride that I have this concert to conduct, which was arranged long before the wedding was re scheduled, so I suggested that he tells the bride that she must be at church on time, or else I may have to leave before the end of the service!

Goodbye Gordon. Welcome David and Nick

At last it seems that everything has now been sorted out in relation to the next government! Now that the dust has settled, and Gordon Brown has resigned with immediate effect, David Cameron is the new Prime Minister and Nick Clegg is his Deputy.

Whilst some of the pundits have poured scorn on such an arrangement (prior to it actually happening), I can see some positives in it.

The first thing seems to be that the more extreme policies of both parties have had to be jetisoned so that some form of working agreement could be reached.

Secondly a working coalition means that the Conservatives and Lib-Dems will have to co-operate more, rather than run on the old lines of "everyone follows the party line."

There are those who would argue that a coalition means the party policies are watered down, but if this means rejecting some of the more extreme policies I see this as no mean thing!

Could we be heading towards a new.co-operative and more sensible era?

Now all that remains is for the Labour Party to elect a new leader.
One of the Milliband Brothers? Alan Johnson? Ed Balls? Any more names to drop in the hat?
As my fellow blogger "Wife in the North" would probably say -what about a woman?

Brown. Has He Done the Honourable Thing At Last?

After much shilly shallying Gordon Brown has finally come to a decision. He is to resign as the leader of the Labour party.

Is this the first decision he has come to so quickly I ask myself, or was he pushed into it by fellow members letting him know, in no uncertain terms that it was time for him to go?

Is he really sacrificing himself for the sake of the party or is it a last ditch effort to keep the Conservative party out of power?

And what of the hung parliament now? Will Nick Clegg line himself up with the Labour party now that Brown has said he will go?

More nail biting suspense!

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

It seems we are still no nearer discovering who will be the next prime minister so to take your mind off the subject here's a lovely little tale........


The Hull City Manager flies to Afghan to watch a young footballer play football, is suitably impressed and arranges for him to come over.

Two weeks later Hull City are 4 - 0 down to Chelsea and with only 20 minutes left, the manager gives the young Afghani striker the nod and on he goes.

The lad is a sensation, scores five goals in 20 minutes and wins the game for Hull City. The fans are delighted, the players and coach are delighted and the media love the new star.

When the player comes off the pitch he phones his mum to tell her about his first day in English football.

"Hello Mum," he says, "Guess what! I played for twenty minutes today and we were 4 - 0 down, but I scored five and we won! Everybody loves me - the fans, the media, they all love me!"

"Wonderful," says his mum, "Let me tell you about my day. Your father got shot in the street and robbed, your sister and I were ambushed, gang raped and beaten, and your brother has joined a gang of looters and all the while you were having a great time!"

The young lad is very upset."What can I say mum? I'm really sorry!"

"Sorry?!!! Sorry?!!!" says his mum. "It's your bloody fault we came to Hull in the first place!"

One Aunty, Two Cousins & Three Dogs

Regular readers of my blog will know a bit about our chocolate Labrador, Ruby. She was bred by a lady called Diane Garrett, who has a daughter called Kelly. Kelly was a school friend of our youngest daughter Hannah, and runs a dog grooming business called Ab-Fab. Each year she organises a charity dog show, and for three years now we have attended this event, along with Ruby, who has won the occasional prize.

Lots of "doggie people" attend this event, and of course, there are dogs of all shapes and sizes there too. Just a few of the breeds I saw this year were:- Weimaraners, Dachshunds, Spaniels, Terriers (of various kinds) Great Danes, Labradors, Setters and a multitude of mixed breeds too!

Classes include Puppy Class, Rescued Dog, Nicest Eyes, Waggiest Tail, Bonniest Bitch, Handsomest Dog, Veterans, Pedigree Dog, Mixed Breed, Scruffiest Dog, Best Canine Couple, Dog the judge would most like to take home and Fancy Dress etc. etc.

This year Ruby managed a prize in the Dog with the waggiest tail class, but the outstanding dog was a little Shih-Tzu called Macey. Yes, that's right. You haven't mis read it! MACEY - one of Hannah's dogs.

She managed to win a prize in every class she entered, and along the way collected two firsts!

Macey with her first "First Prize"

Olivia with Ruby with her prize rosette in the waggiest tail category

Hannah and Macey collect another First Prize. Mollie and Pixie look on at the far right. They won a prize too!

Mollie with Macey, in another class

By now Pixie had had enough of the cold wind so decided to shelter

One Aunty, two cousins and three dogs

The Morning After the Night Before

Here we are twelve hours after the polling stations closed and what have we got? A hung Parliament!

And what about all those places where the polling stations were overwhelmed by the numbers and had to turn away voters - not to forget the polling station which ran out of voting forms!

What a shambles. It seems that the running of the election is very much reflecting the present state of our once powerful and respected country.

So what is it going to be? Will Brown hang on as PM with the help and assistance of Nick Clegg. Will the demands by Nick Clegg be too much for Brown to face? Will Cameron get a crack of the whip after all?

At the moment nobody amongst the political pundits seems to know what could happen.

I await the decision of who will be the next PM with rather less than baited breath and ask myself was it really worth staying up until 4.00 am?

Polling Day

Well the great day has finally arrived. Will you be casting your vote at a polling station? If not you haven't really got the right to complain about the next government!

So who will be in power tomorrow morning?

I reckon the odds are on either a Conservative Government with a slim majority, or a hung parliament.

Who ever gets in has a tremendously difficult job ahead of them. How do you convince the public that all the cuts that are going to come were what they voted for?

If Brown fails to get into any power sharing set up I would imagine he will secretly be delighted, after all, the mess is of his making, and I'm sure he really doesn't want to have to try and sort it out! From his point of view why not lumber the Conservatives or the Lib Dems and let them get the blame when all the cuts have to come.

But let us all remember when the cuts do come (and I'm sure there is no "If the cuts come"), it was caused by Gordon Brown a) as Chancellor, and b) as Prime Minister. Don't gripe at the Lib Dems or Conservatives. IT WAS NOT THEIR DOING. They will have merely inherited the whole ghastly mess.

Holly Bank House

Holly Bank House Entrance Hall
Breakfast Conservatory

Our bedroom

Front Entrance to Holly Bank House
Rear Garden, Fountain and Breakfast Conservatory

Entrance Hall (note suit of armour at bottom of the stairs!)

The Lounge

View from our Bedroom Window




I have been out of access to a computer for the last couple of days, staying in deepest Wolverhampton - at least some lovely countryside just to the North East of the city.



We had to stay overnight on Monday and found a very interesting establishment, complete with suits of armour, and all the trappings of a genuine old baronial hall.



The food was excellent and the beds in the bedrooms were extremely comfortable.





I don't earn commission, but if you want a good place to stay in the area, you could do worse than try Holly Bank House in the village of Essington.

Weddings

The Wedding Season starts with vengeance this month.

It's only the second of the month and I've already played for three weddings! There are eight weddings booked for May, and the weddings continue right through until the second week of October.

One weekend I have a wedding on the Friday, two more on the Saturday and another on the Sunday. I think it might be easier to take a bed down to church and move in there

This sudden influx of weddings has come about since the Church of England relaxed its rules on who can get married at which church. Until fairly recently you had to have either

1) lived in the Parish, or

2) habitually worshipped there for 6 months.

With a church like All Saints, which has a full peal of bells (which are availabe to be rung for weddings), a traditional ancient church, and lovely gardens, it appeals to many would be brides, falling into their romantic view of what a church wedding should look like!