Just Humans Being...

Serious times are upon us... This photo was taken last week.  Sime was clearing up out-of-date paperwork.  He puts it in piles on the floor for recycling & burning, but then he gets fed-up & says he'll finish it the next day. Which is fine - usually... This time he slipped on the paper walking through the dining room in the dark. He stumbled & ended up bashing his side on a chair... He has a large bruise which is fading now with arnica, but we did end up visiting firstly, the local minor injuries dept (which is actually over 12 miles away).  What a terrible place it is, yes it's free - but incredibly degrading. The waiting room was full & you have to ring a bell to get the receptionist's attention. When she arrives at the hatch, she speaks very loudly & discusses your problem for all to hear.  Then you are left to just sit & wait, surrounded by whole families & lots of small children running around. We decided to sit outside the room in the hall

We don't often feel moved to shouting out about political shenanigans... Partly because we are too lazy to be bothered.   Partly because most of the time we don't have a clue about what's going on! But the guys at  Avaaz  do & fortunately they send us emails when they need our help. If you are an armchair supporter of the Occupy Movement  then please read this about the  G20 Petition . Would be great if you would sign it too... Thank you, Kay & Sime xx

Off the north coast of Wales is the island of Anglesey... We travelled over the Menai Suspension Bridge, built by Thomas Telford . And stopped off at the lovely town of Beaumaris with it's wonderful castle... Beaumaris Castle  Definitely our favourite castle of the holiday. It took nearly 50 years to build & was still unfinished, but what a sinister history it has...  Edward I (AKA: Longshanks - Patrick McGoohan played him in Braveheart) was the man behind it all back in the 13th century...  He built all the castles in Wales as fortresses to enable him to conquer the Welsh. We also read that he had some similar castles built in France too, so he certainly got around a bit - when he wasn't busy chasing after Mel Gibson! We love the fact that the moat is still there... And we picked a quiet day! For an unfinished castle - it was pretty impressive... We liked how some of the towers had become overgrown... An arrow slit overlooking the moat...  There are lots of indoor

Is 80  Today...  Happy Birthday!!! Brenda is Sime's Step-Mum AKA Nana Foot-Step Somewhere along the way it evolved into Nana Stip-Pep & has stuck... We couldn't go to her party on Saturday & feel terrible...  But she had a good time! We'll make it up to you in December! Love you lots, Kay, Sime & all the Gang xxxxxxxxx

It's coming to the end of the tourist season, so once the holidaymakers have left this weekend - life is set to get quieter... We've had a busy time again & not only with cleaning, but putting together a quote for a potential new client & doing an inventory for the huge house of another. Amongst it all - we've also made some time to see our girls, who now both live 30 miles away... So we visited  The Essence Of Tea  in Falmouth... A peaceful haven in the middle of town, selling teas from China & Taiwan. We loved it & will definitely go again!  We enjoyed some time together drinking... A large pot of Nantou green tea & smaller pot of  1992 Da Ye Sheng Puerh. We also had a large dish of veggie sushi.  (which we forgot to photograph, but was really delicious)! We also ate later near the harbour & watched the black & white yacht being cleaned & polished by a team of people... I've also had a blood test, which for the first time in 6 y

We love bookshops  & got quite excited when we found a directory in  The Guardian . On reading this entry  we thought we should check out Palas Print. It was just a few miles drive & we enjoyed a couple of hours -browsing, sitting, reading, drinking coffee & in the end bought 5 more books for our shelves! The Welsh owners were lovely & very knowledgeable about books & authors. When we said we had visited on the  strength of their write-up in the newspaper - they gave us 20 % too & didn't charge for the coffee! We felt very welcome & comfortable just browsing. A great afternoon!

We decided to walk to a community cafe which was just up the road taking the scenic route...  Across some marshland... And over the river... But first we played 'Pooh Sticks'!  Llyn Dinas Hugo found a rope swing... And Sime found an abandoned glove & frying pan... We joined the road for the last bit of the walk... Past the strange little bunk houses... And we arrived at the cafe... Which was closed!!! So we set off around the other side of the lake... Little did we know how long it would take & we were hungry too! It certainly was beautiful... (But we went over 8 of those stiles)! But hunger was causing us to flag... Nearly at the end... Looking back... The last hour felt like we were getting nowhere... But we finally reached the end... Just before it got too dark... 4 hours longer than we'd expected... But we still had time for smiles... Just about!!! Kay & Sime xx