Cherry Hinton Folk Festival

Mr Fox, 20 foot high, wonderful!

How wonderful! My very first outdoor festival .

(slightly too young for Woodstock, slightly too old for Glastonbury)

Such fun though!
Loreena Mc Kennitt was amazing.

My children call it  " Mummy's Flutes in the Forest Music" .
This encompasses  all the music I like , from Loreena to Blackmore nights and even extending to Jethro Tull. (Heavy Horses)

Nonetheless, this was fantastic. Actually got to meet Loreena.

Told The Hubby to be on the ready to take millions of photographs.
Not so much.
Suddenly he was a massive fan, shook hands, said lovely things to Loreena and handed the camera to designated dof person who recorded my big moment with Loreena with a shot of me looking like a total tit.

Angelique Kidjo was amazing, as was Joan Armatrading, Kan, and all the acts we managed to see...
Angelique performed some Miriam Makeba music...was something else!

And then down came the rain.
And hail.
And thunder.
Was hysterically funny as the Poms shrieked every time there was a wee thunder roll.
There were about 1000 of us squished into the Crabbies tent (alcoholic Ginger Beer ).
The Hubby and I laughed every time anyone screamed.

Fab Pom person started a singalong


We had, admittedly, and uninformadably drank a pint of cider each.

I said to the cider person, "How much is a pint?"
 She said £3.
I actually meant "How much is a pint?
It is almost a liter
The Hubby should have known better.
We were somewhat trashed for about an hour.

Still and all, I have learned many lessons:

Do not think the weather will be fine even if it is so wonderful when you leave the house that you apply sunscreen.

Take Wellies to a music festival. You will need them at some stage.

Don't laugh at the Poms. They understand the rain. They know how to have fun and come prepared. You as non Poms know nothing.

Rain and Hail!

Lovely Mud!

Oh Loreena I love you!

Poor shoes, OK, now I understand the Wellie thing!

Olympomania ...Zoink!

I do love Boris, he couldn't have put it better!

And Olympomania indeed it is, we watched the opening ceremony and ended up feeling very patriotic and Pom Like.

Admit I was a bit worried at the start as to how they were going to sustain the green and pleasant land bit for three hours, and did announce to The Hubby that if Morris Dancing started I was going upstairs for a bath...but, suddenly,  ZOINK! Fabulous! Loved it all.


The TV coverage is amazing and I am holding out some hope that Team GB is going to get a gold sometime soon...the Saffas have one...

On the 11th we are off to see the diving semi finals, so very excited.
May indeed be a cheaper event than I thought seeing as due to an architectural design problem only just discovered, our view may be somewhat obscured by the curve of the ceiling.
Already we have been offered the following:

Full money back
Partial money back if we are not happy
Less money back if we are somewhat happy.

PRICELESS!

I am happy enough just to be at the Olympic Stadium, have the whole experience, wear the T shirt....

How much can you not see in High Diving?
Zoink!

Get Down on it...

The Hubby went to a company function this week.
No wives or partners, fine, I don't mind...company bonding and all that.
The venue was amazing, Newmarket Racecourse, Premier Lounge, coach to take them there and back, woo hoo!
Now, over the last 6 weeks, there has been a choice of artists to see at these Very Prestigious Events.
 These were the choices.
 Tom Jones.
 Madness
 Van Morrison
 Jessie J
 Or, indeed, the event The Hubby went to....
 Kool and the Gang
 Get Down on it....
Celebrate!

Happy Birthday Madiba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGS7SpI7obY


 I have so little to say, having grown up under the apartheid regime.
 State controlled media , no TV until 1976, no idea how the rest of the world worked.
No access to any books or magazines that would "pervert " us.
 Being taught that Madiba was a terrorist, never being able to see what he looked like when he was a banned person, never saw an image of him or heard his voice until the late 80's.
 Unbelievable, I know, but that's the way it was.
 What were our parents thinking ? And the nuns at our school?
 We taught our children differently, hard as it was in those days. Imagine living in the Free State and allowing your children to have black friends? Bloody hell.

 When I say Happy Birthday Madiba, I mean it with all my heart.

Like a virgin...

Not so many firsts when you get to my age, but today, for the first time ever, I put petrol in the car!
May not seem like a big deal to most people..
The Hubby  (and Dr Lauren ) said  " Don't put diesel in!!"
Well, yes , duh!
Problem was, when I went to Sainsburys  petrol station, it said  Citi Diesel.
On all the 20 pumps.
Who knew that 'Citi' was petrol?
Other than that wee problem, all went well and for the first time ever I put petrol in a car!
Absolute doddle.
Ha!

Soup of The Day

Very interesting soup that I bought for The Hubby. Myself, am not fond of tomato soup.
This soup indeed, does contain 1% vodka. This amazed me as it did not come with a warning and did not set off the 'alcohol, glue, paracetamol,sharp objects ' alarm at the till.

Tesco has missed the trick on this one, children all over the country are going to be able to buy this soup and get trashed with no heath and safety checks.
 (still, does say that this soup equals 1 of your 5 a day)

I am actually going to bring it to their notice.
The reason I am going to do this is because of their dof alcohol restraints.
If I buy alcohol and the person on the till is under 18, they have to call a supervisor to approve the sale!!
Never mind that I am obviously over the age to be allowed to buy alcohol...the first time this happened , I was quite flattered...an ACTUAL ALARM goes off!
But, no, sadly, not for me, for the sweet 17 year old till operator who needs permission to sell me a bottle of brandy!
Hee Hee , they are mad!

Call me maybe...

definitely sign of the week! 

Hilti

This is a Hilti.
Unknown in the UK.
A device that is as cheap as chips (as they say here) for knocking nails into the wall with no mess, no fuss.
This Hilti was brought over for me by The Famous Brother seeing as I left/sold my hilti before I came here , thinking that it would be a stock item.
Well, not so much.
The Hilti as I know it has never been on sale in the UK.
Nobody knows why.
And god knows they need it here as the walls are not real walls, they are all cardboard.
When I first went into our local hardware shop, Jewsons (?) they got all excited, as the hilti stuff here is SERIOUS hardware that starts at about £4000.
They had never heard of the wee hilti nail knocker inner.
I lost my hilti for two weeks and have been searching madly for it.
Looked everywhere, and , believe me, in these small Pom  houses, everything has a place. I usually know where everything is down to the last pin.

My problem was  (stupid me)I was looking for a RED Hilti, and the one The Famous Brother brought was a GREY hilti. They obviously changed the colour since I left, or The Famous Brother got me a knock off. Hmm...

Bit like a Hidden Object game.
Anyway, found it today, and in three seconds put all the pictures up in the spare room.
Easy Peasy.

Pom products

My patriotic duty to buy these eggs

Amazing tomato!

Ha Ha Ha !
Had to buy them seeing as I didn't have my camera, then I had to eat them.