The Way of the Wombat

Rejoice, for that which was lost is found!

When we moved house five years ago, as we unpacked we found most things, although for a couple of weeks the bag with most of my knickers in was mislaid and I had to buy some new ones. But the other thing that went missing was my peg-bag. We never did find it and eventually I went and bought new clothes pegs too.

When we had the electrician in a couple of weeks ago, adding some new sockets and light fittings and replacing the fuse board, I emptied out a couple of cupboards in the utility room for him, and in one there was a box with some bottles of wine and spirits in, still as it left the old house. When D-d was here last week I suggested she went through it and took some of them as she was more likely to use them. As we took them out we realised that something had been wedged at the back to make sure they didn't move... yes - it was the canvas bag full of clothes pegs!

Night out - the food was fine, the music fascinating...

My sister gave me a gift voucher for a fairly new restaurant for my birthday. At first I thought it was Spanish in style, then realised it was Argentinian. For various reasons we only got around to going last week.

It is nicely laid out and comfortable, the service was very good. The food was, not surprisingly, very meat oriented, although I did have a Mediterranean vegetable quesadilla as a starter (S2C had meatballs wrapped in bacon!). Then S2C had a posh burger as his main, I had a pulled pork ciabatta, with fries; they were nice, although not earth shattering. Then he had a chocolate mousse trifle and I had flambéed pineapple and ice-cream. We enjoyed the food, but may well not go back as we thought that, for what it was, it was rather over-priced.

The only reason we might go back is the amazingly odd background music. Which was at just the right volume, by the way, you could hear it but it didn't intrude into conversation. Except it became one of our main topics of conversation. We began to realise that the music was a series of pop and rock songs hammered into the rhythm of the Bosa nova. We recognised Coldplay's Viva la Vida, All Saints Pure Shores, the Cranberries Zombie (probably the least suitable as it is about the IRA), Amy MacDonald's This is the Life, and Lionel Ritchie's Hello, amongst others. Then we began to play 'what would be even worse?' How about One by Metallica? The Green Fields of France? At which point we recognised AC/DC's Whole Lotta Rosie!

On Friday we went to Peel, and did some shopping in the Manx National Heritage shop, mainly for birthday presents for our daughter. While we were there we got some cushion covers for ourselves simply because we loved them.



Oystercatchers! Aren't they great?

And when we had snow a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the most damage in the garden was to the enormous marguerite. This is the part that was damaged, the branches broken off at the base, that I had to cut out.



On the left of the next picture is what remains - you can see why I am not too worried about it. And actually it has opened up the view of the end of the garden from the conservatory. (On the right is a smaller bushy marguerite.)




And here are a few more garden pictures taken last week;










And one taken on Monday;




The forsythia is coming into flower - and Archie, the neighbouring cat, is ever hopeful that the birds won't see him!

Today's date is an anniversary. Two years ago today my daughter and her fiancé were due to marry.

Over the 2 or 3 weeks preceding the wedding day the pandemic began to be more than a tiny blip on the horizon and they had seen their plans change and change and change, almost daily. They had to cancel their honeymoon in Tahiti, then the new honeymoon in England had to be cancelled, and eventually a third one in a local hotel, too. The reception could no longer happen as planned, their caterers offered to host a smaller one in their café, then the rules changed again and they had to cancel; the wedding venue could now only take 30 people, but we could have a champagne toast, then they could only take 10, then it could only be the registrar with the bride, groom, and their two fathers as witnesses... and on the 26th of March even that was cancelled as the island went into strict lockdown.

I look back in my journal and on the afternoon of the 26th my daughter said "Ah well, we gave it our best shot!" and I took a photo of my spare bedroom -



An unworn wedding dress and bridesmaid's dress.

On the 28th March 2020 both daughter and fiancé posted this message on their Facebook pages;

Today was supposed to be our wedding day 😭 We have planned so many weddings and honeymoons over the last fortnight to overcome each setback again and again and again. We are thoroughly exhausted. Thank you to everyone who sent us messages and kind wishes throughout, it really means a lot ❤

We have encountered so many people whose lives are being affected by this virus, and whilst each plan b, c and d for us gave empty hope that we could still tie the knot on an increasingly less 'big' day, at least we still have jobs and know that at the end of all this we can get what we want just later than planned. But for the beauticians 💅 hairdressers 💇‍♀️ caterers 🥖 catteries 😿 guesthouses 🏩florists 💐and so many more this is their livelihoods in the balance. Each of their plan b, c and d was a means for survival that with each daily press conference was taken from them. I am sure they are just as exhausted and with an awful lot more at stake.

When we do get married perhaps the best gifts we could ask for would be those that support local businesses - we are big fans of eating and drinking...

I cried. It was such a thoughtful message rather than a 'poor us' one.

And then we hunkered down to lockdown, fearful of what might come.

But, of course, we managed to make our island covid-free for almost 8 months from May 2020 and they had a wonderful, memorable, wedding on the 28th of August 2020 which, whilst not the same as the original one would have been, and a honeymoon of 3 days spent only 5 miles from home, was so much 'them' that none of us can imagine the original could have been as personal or as joyous.



And, despite further lockdowns and setbacks, the beautician, hairdresser, caterers, florist, and so on who were part of the original plan, were there for the actual wedding - and are all still in business - more than we could all have hoped for 2 years ago today.

You know you are getting old when your daughter is adult enough to be asked by her best friend's father to ratify his new passport photo.

Also - you know you are getting old when an e-mail to said daughter receives an automated reply telling you that, if your e-mail is urgent, you can contact her secretary.

On the other hand she is still young enough to want to come around tomorrow for pancakes...

Thank you to everyone for the birthday greetings, gifts to my journal, e-cards and hard-copy cards that I received yesterday. I really do love that my birthday gets so much more celebrating since I joined LJ.

S2C bought me the Blu-ray mega extended boxed set of Lord of the Rings - this should keep me occupied for a month or two. D-d gave me a beautiful new jumper and also took me out for afternoon tea to celebrate properly.

And there was a bracelet from my Mum, a very, very, nice silver and grey scarf and some black and silver glass earrings from dougalsservant, and a couple of other bits from a couple of friends.

Afternoon tea was very good - just the two of us as S2C had just had his first shift back at work and was in bed asleep.

Fist came a selection of sandwiches served with crisps and a good, mustardy, potato salad.



And then came scones with jam and cream, mince pies, and Victoria sponge;



I know I look a bit worried in the background there - I always do when someone else has the camera!

So - a day well celebrated.

I hope everyone who celebrates has had a lovely couple of Festive Days, if you are lucky enough to be in a country that regards one day off as much too stingy, and a good day if you are one of the unfortunate ones!

If you are interested in how my Christmas went just click the link to

( Read more... )

And here, just to prove it -is ( A screencap... )

Oh dear - the weekend is almost over, and I currently feel so tired I could do with a couple of days off work.

Yesterday I was doing Mum's shopping, cutting her grass, and walking the dog, before coming back to do Messy Church at 4pm - which was fun, but tiring! Then I spent time in the evening resizing all the pictures so that they can go onto the church website - and also to church this morning to be loaded onto the vestry computer for people to look at after the service.

Cutting Mum's grass made my shoulder sore again - and so I didn't sleep well - especially as S2C was off work so the bed was hot, and whenever I woke it took a while to be lulled by his snores rather than kept awake by them.

S2C brought me coffee in bed, then I got up and hung out the washing I'd put on on timer over night, before church. Church was nice - two young men were confirmed as church members. Watched the German MotoGP over lunch, then took our broken garden chairs to the recycling site, went to B&Q to get a couple of new ones, then to Tescos to do the week's shopping. And then flopped - I'd have been happy to have a nap, but never quite got around to it. I mentioned this, and S2C must have thought it a good idea as he disappeared upstairs and is currently sprawled across the bed!

Seasons' Greetings? Yesterday S2C picked the post off the mat and noticed one from his mother in Australia. When he opened it he was a bit surprised to find Season's Greetings' facing him. it turned out to be the Christmas card that she posted to us on 18th December....

It didn't have an actual 'air-mail' sticker - so perhaps it came by dug-out canoe, camel train, and cyclist - but even then you would have thought it would have taken less than 30 weeks.

He rang her this morning to let her know it had arrived!

And picspam - there will be pictures of messy church, but for today there are just a few I took of the inner harbour in Ramsey ( under here... )

Friday was our 27th wedding anniversary - how time flies when you are having fun.

As S2C was off work we went out for a meal to his favourite local Indian restaurant - I had Mannoor Kozhi Masala - which is a South Indian thick chicken curry with cashews. There is a picture of it ( under here... )

After that embarrassingly empty fridge on Saturday morning, I went to Tescos - and we finally have blossom on the trees and new leaves beginning to unfurl. ( here is a picture taken in the supermarket carpark... )


For our wedding anniversary D-d bought us a milk jug to match our teapot, and the cups, saucers, plates etc. that we treated ourselves to on our Silver Wedding - as both she and her dad agreed that if you have a nice tea-pot you really need the matching milk jug.

So this afternoon I made us all a proper Sunday Tea - with sandwiches, fruit loaf, freshly baked scones and a Victoria sandwich. ( There's a picture under this cut... )

At Sunday School we have been considering what an imperfect family Abraham's was - and how God loved them anyway; today we were looking at the story of Jacob's Ladder. Which is something that really does lend itself to a re-creation ( with gingerbread men.... )

As I stood in Sunday School looking out the window something caught my eye - the primroses are in bloom, and some of them are growing in a rather odd place ( Look.... )

Here's wishing all my friends a peaceful & healthy 2013.

It's a bit late because I was at my sister's last night to see in the New Year then I've spent today cooking a goose and all the associated accompaniments, and eating the same with Mum and D-d (poor S2C was in bed - night shift - he'll have his tomorrow morning), watching television and drinking cava. (D-d drove Mum home so I was able to drink the cava!)

The picture shows the greeting in Manx for you all.

Whenever I see 'use Tiny MCE' as an option when uploading to archives I have a mental image of my every word being entered on tiny keyboards by tiny mice. Now we have the MCE British Superbikes on TV - and again my brain has inserted an 'I'. So I see mice on bikes.

S2C, about to go to bed, suggests having both together Tiny Mice riding Superbikes. They would need string attached to the handlebars, he thinks - but would have trouble leaning into corners. 'More bits of string attached to weights and pulleys' I suggest.

Of course it made me think of Biker Mice from Mars - and ThisMaz and TalesofSnape will understand why I wanted them to be Byker Mice - with proper Byker accents.

So now I have Byker mice riding superbikes with the aid of weights, pulleys, and bits of string...

Almost as surreal as my brain - I said in comments to my post yesterday that as so many people seemed rather taken with Albannach I would post my very favourite clip of them from You Tube. I had thought it might be a bit long, but as so many of you agree with me that it is a wonderful sound, here they are busking under the Scott Monument in Edinburgh.

When S2C and I first visited Edinburgh together we had not long seen a TV documentary about Mad King Ludwig and his tastes in architecture. We came to the conclusion that the Scott Monument was actually built as a Zeppelin defence for Princes Street, in the style of MKL.

So, here we have something harking back to wild Highland Celtic traditions, underneath the epitome of Lowland Scots romanticism, packaged for the English in the style of Mad King Ludwig...





If you want to hear Albannach live you have a much better chance of doing so if you live in the USA - here is their tour schedule for the year.

Oh, and Aya, the young man on the right, dances exactly how I would to this music - exactly how I did to anything similar when I was his age, too.