Libby & Sue go for a walk around a Lake in the Lake District..(see if you can spot Libby)

And of course, no nature trip is complete without a trip to my favourite shop - MATALAN !!!

Lib and Ian and the Lovely Lakes

I went up to stay with Libby & Ian in early June - here they are walking to the pub for dinner (they don't always make me walk 10 paces behind them, it's only when I'm trying to take photos !)10 points to the reader who can spot the similiarities in the three following photos of Libby, Ian and I....
The pool sharks in action...
If you look very closely, you will see that there are tiny XXXX on these pool balls - in the only pub in Langwathby !!!!
A spot of spinning on the way home from the pub is always a sure fire way of clearing your mind after a night out !
Lib & Ian's new garden fence...

and their new pots...

Isla proving she likes one of Aunty Sue's presents...

I found this amazing nursery rhymes book so had to buy it for Isla. I added my personal touch by a few carefully placed post it notes here and there (more for Dunk & Tash than Isla) !!

two of some things spotted around brixton...

I'm proud to be a Brisvegan when I read things like this in the paper over here...

Rugby player finds tooth stuck in head

A rugby player in Australia somehow managed to keep competing for more than four months, without realizing he had an opponent's tooth lodged in his forehead.

Ben Czislowski, a former National Rugby League prop playing for Brisbane team Wynnum, had a clash of heads with opposing forward Matt Austin during an April 1 match against the pleasingly-named Tweed Heads. He had a head wound stitched up afterwards, the Australian Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

But Czislowski later suffered an eye infection and complained of lethargy and shooting pains in his head. A visit to his doctor last week revealed a tooth still embedded in his head.

'I can laugh about it now, but the doctor told me it could have been serious, with teeth carrying germs,' said Czislowski. He kept the tooth as a souvenir.

'I've got the tooth at home, sitting on the bedside table,' he said. 'If he (Austin) wants it back he can have it. I'm keeping it at the moment as proof that it actually happened.'

In 2004, Australian rugby league hooker Shane Millard also had an opponent's tooth removed from his head while playing for English club Widnes.

And two years earlier, Australian Jamie Ainscough's arm became so badly infected while playing for Wigan in England there were fears it would be amputated before the source - an embedded tooth - was discovered.

3 Cheers for the bag ladies !!!!

Bag ladies win a ban on carriers

A small English town of less than 5,000 people has taken a green lead by becoming the biggest place in Europe to ban plastic carrier bags.

Two-thirds of the 109 traders there have said they will banish plastic bags from September 1 and offer shoppers string, cotton or paper alternatives.

The ban has happened after a campaign by five women – dubbed the 'bag ladies' – in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

Mandi Paramor started it with Nikki Ruse, Louise Marix-Evans, Kat Birch and Emma Leeming after hearing about Modbury, Devon, which has 43 traders, and banned the bags in May.
Mrs Paramor, 46, said an initial survey of businesses found 75 of the local shops keen to back the scheme, with most of the rest prepared to at least stop giving out plastic bags.

'There are only four out of 109 saying no,' she said, adding that the Co-op is giving every household in the town a free Fairtrade cotton bag. She said: 'I didn't want to think anything I threw away could get into the water system and end up in the sea, which is becoming a huge rubbish bin of the world.'

My kind of heaven....

Elizabeth, Claire & I went on a little shopping trip to IKEA because we decided we needed a few "essentials". One of the things I miss most about Australia is having a car and just being able to drive places so often have to rely on good friends like Elizabeth to drive me to special places every now and then.

I think this one speaks for itself...what a bargin I am !!

Elizabeth testing out the desks....

Claire testing the distance possible to travel on a desk chair...
A potential new couch for little Lord Alfie perhaps?
We had to have a short break at the cafe to rest our sore Ikea shopping feet....

Claire's impression of Alfie chasing a cat...
I love how there are arrows EVERYWHERE to remind you which way to go...

I was feeling a little rebellious on this particular visit... The shopping excursion was all going well until Claire and I realised we had accidentally misplaced Elizabeth in the huge collection hall. We managed to remain calm and decided the most sensible (and entertaining) thing to do would be to get the cashier to put a call out for her over the PA system. Claire very carefully told the cashier how to pronounce Elizabeth's surname and then it happened....we found it very amusing....Unfortunately Elizabeth didn't quite share our level of amusement. When she heard the announcement she got all excited and called out "that's me !!!", must to the amusement of her fellow shoppers. I think she got confused and thought she was in a bingo hall...
Anyway - overall if was a worthwhile and very fun shopping trip - there was only one small thing to work out - how the hell are we going to fit two trolleys worth of shopping into Elizabeth's small mini?

Hmmmm....

Brixton Fires...

There was a very strange couple of days about 2 months ago where there were 3 unrelated fires within 100 metres of my house?!?!? Very odd...

These are taken from my lounge...

And just when I thought we'd had our fair share of fires - I was woken at 3am by more sirens and took these out of my bedroom window !!

Center Parcs - A place the whole family can enjoy...

I headed off to Center Parcs with some mates a few weeks ago. I love going there because there are lots of activities to do and it's all the sort of stuff I love doing, but just would never occur to me to do in London !! I drove up Elizabeth and Jo and Alfred. He was very well behaved in the car and fell asleep on my knee.....awwwwwwThe first activity of the weekend (after hiring our bikes of course) was ARCHERY:Archery is one of those sports that looks easy, but is actually pretty bloody hard (well to some of us, although Sal made it look so easy !!)
Just in case you weren't already keeping your wits about you...
The next day we hired some canoes & other devices that float on water....here's beccy & ruth...Here I am peddling furiously, but not getting anywhere fast...We were going to hire one of these for Elizabeth to put Alfred in but we weren't sure how he'd cope so instead Elizabeth walked everywhere ! I tried to tie his leash to my bike late one night on the way home from a special trip to the "executive" villas where some friends were staying, but let's just say, it didn't go too well and both Alfred and I are lucky to be alive !
A nice collection of trees...the entire place is made up of cabins surrounding by forest...
Me hard at work on the Badmington court (it's an odd feeling hitting a shuttlecock when I'm used to a tennis ball).A good example of Alfred's separation anxiety - he can see Elizabeth but he still isn't happy !
The trip home.....awwwww