Nigel Hits The Marmite Jackpot

After the initial disappointment of finding, when he went to our local Home Bargains to top up on our supply of our current crisp of choice, to wit the Seabrooks tomato ketchup flavour, that they had completely sold out ........

....... he only then went on to smash the Marmite jackpot with .......

...... Marmite deep ridge crisps PLUS cheese and Marmite puffs, OMG, OMG. OMG!!!!!

Needless to say, a quite substantial purchase was then made, with little, if any consideration at all, as it was a given that these would be very gratefully received back at The Towers, as well as looking rude and ungrateful not to almost clear the shelves, what are we like? The boy dun gud ........ very gud, very gud indeed! 

A Little Twinkle Can Go An Awful Long Way

It goes without saying that none of us are exactly embracing the fact that the nights starting to draw in, with Darrell already having to light our ambient candles by at least seven o'clock in the evening.

However, in order to inject just a little lightness to our mood, he's been on the interweb and ordered a whole pile of solar lights to jolly up the communal garden ........

........ with he says, something quite spectacular, he hopes for December, our most favourite month of the year!

No doubt this will not best please some people, to which we say .......we will hold firm our conviction should questions be asked in Parliament, with petitions raised on our behalf if troops are called to muster, ringing out our autumnal chant "fairy lights bring happy nights!"

If we need to Go Fund Me, then we'll jolly well Go Fund Me, in order to fill the whole garden with even more lights to spread the joy and supposing, after all that, we're incarcerated for our cause, we're sure Jan, our beloved No. 1 fan will organise a prison visitors rota and smuggle in nail files in fruit cakes for Darrell ........ what are we like?

Autumn hasn't been quite autumn this year for Nigel, as the school run has now taken on a completely different route, with Iris having moved on to Middle School and with it, there has been no conkering or many memories made.

New traditions will no doubt be made, like Bertie and Nigel nipping into Lldl to shelter from the rain or choose a bagel or some other such treat for Iris, to help bide their time while waiting for her to rendezvous with them just by the dentist!!!  

So, it's a bittersweet affair when Nigel has to pass what is now left of their beloved conker tree each night on his way home, a place where they shared so many happy moments, with Iris filling the pockets of her skirt with so many conkers it could barely hold up under the weight!

The tree's branches were cut down without warning last year, but it's heart still remains. 

It's fighting back, with new shoots growing around the bottom of its trunk ......

...... and as for the top!

Who knows, perhaps in another couple of hundred years a little monkey and his beloved niece and nephew might start the age old traditional all over again! 

Spawning In Plain Sight

I have to admit that we've been quite remiss as to the care of our one and only cactus plant, more or less leaving it to it's own devices .......

..... so imagine my surprise when I spotted that said succulent has been pretty much taking care of itself quite happily despite all this laxity .......

....... not only growing by at least a centimetre ...........

....... but also, in plain sight of all at The Towers, spawning tiny babies .......triplets in fact. This discovery was quite emotional, though tinged with an awful sense of regret that all it's stoic efforts have, until now, gone unnoticed.

I'm not sure how I/we can make it up, except for a little more water now and again to help to vitalise the mother, as well as keeping those little babies nice and plump ......... and then a lot of praise? Any other suggestions would be most welcome, especially from Mr D, who must find himself continually surrounded by cacti in the wild in hot and romantic Mexico and thus, no doubt, an expert!

We've Seen It All Now ......

Nigel had to do a double, nay triple take ...... and then rub his eyes as he crossed the Workman Bridge on the way to yesterday's school run .......

.... as he couldn't quite believe what his eyes were seeing!

Now, we've heard of fishing in comfort ......

...... but this is ridiculous!

However, if the sofa in question has been outrageously and nefariously dumped, then questions really need to be asked in Parliament!  What on earth is Evesham coming to? 

Autumnal Twinklings

Well, we're well and truly into the autumnal season now. It seems that 2024 isn't so much ebbing, but racing away at break neck speed!

It's also time for Darrell to get out and fluff up his seasonal wreath, which sadly, despite being put away very carefully last November, has still managed to sustain a little damage, to wit a detached acorn, a squashed fir cone and a little leaf damage .........

...... but, it was soon put back together again with the aid of Darrell's trusty, old glue gun, while musing about perhaps the addition of a few fairy lights this year  ......

Said wreath is now hanging resplendent upon the nail on our portal, until November 30th when winter officially takes over.

With the lights, me thinks the boy dun gud. How can anyone not feel warm and fuzzy a twinkle!

Jan The Fan's Present To Alice

After such a sombre mood coming back from Oxford bidding adieu and farewell to our beloved Jan the Fan, we decided that the best course of action to lift our solemn spirits was to ask Alice round as soon as our feet hit the doormat (metaphysically speaking, as we're not allowed a doormat outside our front door unless it meets the stringentest of health and safety rules and as such we've done without), as we had Jan's present to give to her.

Let's just say, it was Alice's turn to be overwhelmed!  We explained the significance of the beautiful black and white wrappings (Howay the Lads and all that) which Alice proclaimed were almost too lovely to tear apart, but tear she must, as it would have been rude not to reveal the treasures within.  What is she like?

Removing the paper and label revealed a very posh looking black box ...... 

...... and on taking the lid off said box, we were met with a very romantic layer of delicate, foil embossed, butterfly tissue paper .........

 ...... and underneath this were the most beautiful pair of hair clips any of us had ever seen, in black and white, obviously another homage to Jan The Fan's much loved Magpies.

Then, after much ooooooing and ahhhing in joint admiration, Darrell helped Alice carefully put them in her always neatly coiffured hair.

It goes without saying that they looked most resplendent tucked just behind her ears. She looked so very, very beautiful, as if she could look anything else? 

It was emotional, but we knew that after such an emotionally charged few days we needed to pull ourselves together and help Alice find something in her wardrobe to help "bring out" and accentuate her new hair clips to their fullest.  What happy, happy, happy days!