Current fundraising total is £1,991.61. The Just Giving website has now closed so I'll be putting updates on the total on here only.

Oh, and I got a first in my Open University degree. Yes, that is insufferable smuggness that you can feel radiating through your VDU. Nice that all the hard work paid off - MA in History of Art here I come!

Happy New Year!

Gifts for the woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown...

A close friends know, I barely tolerate Christmas; being forced to pretend I'm having a good time for the entire festive season because 'everybody loves Christmas' is not conducive to me actually having a good time. But this year I thought I'd enter into the spirit of the thing by offering an alternative to the lists of 'must have' pressies in the weekend newspapers. So please see below five inspiring gifts for that special someone (i.e. ME!).

First up is a longstanding favourite which, for some weird reason, Jon won't buy me. Raffaele Iannello's Voodoo Knife Block. In his Voodoo Exhibition in April he had a gizmo set up where you could project your face onto the little figure - but much better to project someone else's face on to it don't ya think? Press the comments button below to email in your suggestions of who I should choose... It comes with a set of five knives and is a bargain at £60.00.

This is much more tame but rather fabby. The Vintage Vacations Christmas bauble is a bit less of a bargain at £12.00, but let's face it it's cheaper, more convenient and less embarrassing than owning a real caravan.

Another longstanding favourite is the Christmas snow storm soap which caused utter bemusement when given to elderly (and not so elderly) members of the Wigan branch of the family a couple of years ago. Apparently, despite the label, they spent the best part of Xmas Day trying to work out what the hell it was and has led to me getting the (rather undeserved, I think) reputation of giving 'odd' presents - which says more about them than it does about me I like to think... These are a snip at £6.99 for three from Lakeland.

As worn by Janet Street-Porter and seen on street market stalls up and down the country - a t-shirt proclaiming "If you think I'm a bitch, you should meet my mother". Of course you just couldn't wear it in public, but it would be there in the wardrobe to be gently stroked when you felt wicked.

On the other hand if someone just wants to buy me a Bentley I've got no objections.

Bev

Meet our nephew Archie. Born on Tuesday 5th December and weighing in at 9lb 13oz (ouch!).

Looks like his father but snores like his mother (apparently). No ginger hair as yet...

'Archie' is a traditional English/ Scottish name meaning 'very bold' or 'genuine and brave'.

Other famous Archies:













Current fundraising total is £1,965.51 - Oooo, very close to the 2 grand mark now...

Bev

‘Ow much?!?

These photos were taken on a recent visit to Westonbirt Arboretum to have a look at the autumn leaves. Unfortunately, half of North Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire also had the same idea! We thought we'd just go for a quick walk on a Saturday morning in a nice Forestry Commission park and when we got there we found that they charge for admission (I’m sure they didn’t used to practice extortion). We had a Daily Mail moment when we were asked to pay £7.50 EACH to get into land that we pay for through our taxes. Not £7.50 per car...EACH! We don't mind paying to see the woods lit up at night near Christmas, when they've put some effort in and people are working overtime, but £7.50 to walk round some trees?!? It really made us appreciate the free walks we do on public footpaths. We made sure that we got our money’s worth and rather than the hour we were going to spend there we stayed nearly 5 hours instead!

We were cheered up by finding that the Merlin Events Golden Leaves tour of the Cotswolds had stopped off here so we had lots of nice cars to look at. In the end a very pleasant day was had but, as we ended up buying lunch there, we spent nearly 35 quid! Ignore what I said on a previous post, yes I am a tightwad and I do resent paying £15 to look at trees. The home-made soup was good though.
A week later we stopped off at Dyrham Park (‘cos we can get in free with the National Trust card!) on the way to look at Claire’s newly built flat (which is gorgeous and new and shiny and I'm dead jealous ‘cos both the en-suite and the bathroom are bigger than ours!). We'd forgotten how nice it was and must go back for a longer walk with proper boots.

We're currently awaiting - with bated breath on my part - our first nephew / niece as it's about a week late now. We spent Saturday evening feeding Helen pickles and making her giggle but as yet Horace is staying put. He's proably heard the weather forecast...

The fundraising total is currently £1,920.51 - only £80 to go to our target figure.

Bev