Hurkle-Durkling With Gay And Unabashed Abandon!

If you'll pardon the expression, this morning I decided to treat myself to a checky, impromptu hurkle-durkle ....... 

Nothing, of course, of an unsavoury type nature, I was merely treating myself to an extra little lounge in bed, way past the time, Chez Towers, it's considered judicious to get up. A simple, indulgent, lingering under the covers of a warm bed. way past breakfast! 

The phrase popped up on Facebook, where I discovered that "hurkle" was a Scottish word for hunkering down ........

...... and well, it would be rude not to put such a new word (to me at least) into action, wouldn't it?  What am I like? 

Richard Blooms

After an awful lot of diligent and devoted tender care over the past few weeks ......

..... with Darrell often going above and beyond .......

...... to ensure Richard kept on the straight and narrow .....

...... despite his overwhelming penchant to lean precariously in whatever direction the sun happens to be shining ......

...... not to mention hour upon hour of sun worship, sat sitting outside on our window sill, drinking in all the light he could muster ......

........ Richard has finally started to blossom  .......

...... and bloom ......

Well, two out of four "trumpets"(?) so far, with two more, with luck, to go.

Darrell, has admitted to being just a smidge disappointed that Richard's said blooms were a very pale green, instead of a much hoped for vibrant red .......

...... however he's still a tall, upright and proud plant and Darrell's horticultural pride and joy.  As I said, we await the next two flowers to reveal themselves and as and when they do, you, of course, will all be the very first to know.......

Switsawoooooo

With all this wonderful warm weather it goes without saying that Darrell has been putting a great deal of thought into his summer wardrobe and as such has been out shopping .......

...... and what he can get with a robustly prudent pound is totally unbelievable, not one, not two, but three beautiful t-shirts that all just blatantly scream hello summer.

He arrived home like a dog who had found a very large stick, three balls, his tail, a postman and a bone .....

 ..... and when I particularly admired one emblazoned with all manner of marine life of a whale type nature, without a second thought said I could have it, bless his little cotton socks.

Switsawooooooo! It's very handy sometimes as we are pretty much identical as far as sizings are concerned, especially when our tastes are often similar too, meaning that a cheeky swaparoo is always optional, happy days!

A Secret Unlocked And A Considered No From Eric (Formally Known As Nigel).

We are now privy to the secret of the ever fragrant Alice's very beautiful, lustrous locks and ageless beauty.

Eric (formally know as Nigel) was out mooching with her in Home Bargains, as they are oft want to do, when she remembered that she needed to pick up some of "her" vitamins, as she was running dangerously low, and that would never do.

Among the various bottles she popped in her basket, it was the Lush Locks that particularly caught his attention, having always been very taken by the soft appearance, sheen and perfume of Alice's hair and then wondered aloud if they might do anything for his own fair locks.

Alice told him that the mixed berry gummies not only looked after her hair but also her "radiant" complexion (Eric's word, not Alice's, she is far too modest to even say such a thing).  This all had Eric pondering, but on careful consideration he thought it might be best to perhaps look for a masculine equivalent, just to be on the safe side, as his own skin is of quite a rufty tufty sort of nature and if he suddenly turned up with a visage redolent of a ripe peach (or babies bum) people might wonder and questions possibly asked in Parliament!  What on earth is he like? 

Hedgehogs With Purpose?

It goes without saying that Eric is now longer phased by stumbling across at least one hedgehog while he's out and about charity shop mooching, with the majority being of an ornamental type nature.

However, he has noticed, of late, one or two hedgehogs with purpose popping up in amongst the bric a brac shelves, which, he has reasoned might be a little more acceptable to Darrell as far as his careful curating is concerned ........

...... to wit this unusual, treen, hedgehog coaster set found in the Salvation Army shop, of which Eric had a spooky sort of feeling in his water might be something special and so has had a smidge of non purchasers regret on leaving it, especially after he found it on Etsy selling for an awful lot more than it was marked up as. Therefore, it shalt now be known as the "one" that got a way, Eric siting Darrell's particular aesthetic as to what we place our glass or mug chez Towers!

And then, as you would have it, right next to said hedgehog was yet another, unused set of coasters, priced at £3, which Eric immediately knew would certainly not pass Darrell's stringent coaster test .......

....... featuring real life images of a variety of vegetables, either still in the ground or recently plucked from it. Even Eric found them totally unappealing and quite bizarre, but each to their own, perhaps an enthusiastic allotment owner would have enthused and snapped them up tout de suite to rest his/her shed cuppa.

Eric also resisted this hedgehog pillow, though tempted, as it struck him more as an autumnal decorative feature and while we are basking in all this glorious spring sunshine he didn't want to jinx anything. ........

What is he like, other than quite a shrewd shopper as far as his pertinent seasonal purchases are concerned!!!!!!

A New Wafer In Town - Gold Billions Wafer

When there's a new wafer in town, describing itself as golden caramel chocolate with layers of crisp water and cream filling .........

........ well, it would be rude not to give it a whirl, so Darrell duly nipped up to  Iceland to make a considered purchase for him and Alice to try on a slow, weekday afternoon.

On opening, the first thing that hit them was the sweet, unmissable aroma of Nestle Gold caramel chocolate, of which we've partaken in the odd bar, two or three or four!

Then, when they cut into it there were certainly an ample-age of layers, to wit wafer and cream, enrobed in thick gold chocolate with milk chocolate on the bottom.

And, how did go down? Darrell and Alice said that it was as they had expected, a little on the edge of being too sweet perhaps, with the gold chocolate flavour dominating the wafer and cream.   

They liked it, but thought that they wouldn't got out of their way to savor another one. It was ok, but small for princely sum of 90p (although prices do vary from 75p), and to be honest, might just prefer a plain bar of Gold chocolate doing away with all the whistles and flutes if they wanted real treat.

However, I couldn't fail to notice that between them they had eaten it all. They said they absolutely needed to, to review it to the full!  What are they like?  And a score?  An average but perfectly acceptable 5 out of 10 gold billions on our world famous Richter Scale of Noms!

Eurovision Finally Hits Us .......

As you know we won't be watching Eurovision (in past years our televisual highlight of the year) in real life this year, after finding ourselves double booked up at The Regal on the big night .... and, as we've admitted earlier this year, our interest has become somewhat muted following a couple of years of disappointment, not only for the UK, but a couple of years ago, when Finland was truly robbed!  However, it has to be said that the flags will still be flying up at Snake Mountain, where our beloved niece and nephew are still very much invested. 

 

So imagine the unbridled and unfettered joy when Little Miss Iris, on a cheeky trip to London, only found herself stood standing outside the window of the London Eurovision Party with the girls from the UK, Remember Mondays, standing right behind her (see yellow arrows)!  To say it was emotional for her was an understatement and back home in Evesham we have to confess to not a little Eurovision envy. Such an occasion would have certainly have had poor Darrell hyperventilating in the past ..... and now, to be honest ...... after this frisson of Euro excitement, I really don't think it would take that much for The Towers to become all consumed again ...... what on earth are we like?

Way More Than Our Five A Day ......

When you're out and about in town .......

 ........ your spirits buoyed by the most glorious sunshine ......

 ......... and you find that there's a fair old surfeit of wonderous fruit being proffered on the market  .......

.......  it would look plain rude not to fill your shopping trolley to capacity with just a soupçon of said abundance  ........

...... to loving ensure that your family is fully protected against a serious bout of scurvy or any other related health issues of a vitamin deficient type nature!

Well, it goes without saying that there's little danger of that happening with our beloved, ever fragrant Alice looking after us ...... but hopefully, one of Darrell's stupendous pavlovas could now be in the offing!  What are we like.

Two Ticks

A thrifted vase (£1, Sue Ryder, the other day) and a "bouquet", well, more of a bunch of daffodils if I'm honest  ........

 ...... plus two of the last ticks to be made in April on our 2025 Bucket List Calendar ........

Now, it has to be said that I am no great shakes as to the delicate art of floristry, I simply cut off a little from the bottom of the stems and then plonked said daffs unceremoniously into  the vase ...........

Hopefully, fingers crossed, they will look a little more presentable and appealing when they start to open ........ as and when they do, you, of course, will be the first to know!

With Great Responsibilities .........

With Kata, our lovely neighbour across the hallway, away for a couple of days Eric (formally known as Nigel) has been tasked with the looking after her little boys fish, bought by the Christmas Angel (as Hungarian tradition holds) last year.

This is a position of the uttermost trust and honour, so the little fella has been carrying out his duties with all the seriousness and precision of a military operation, especially with the above in mind.  These are not ordinary fish, these are Kristizan's fish!

 

He has committed himself to turning their light off in the evening at around nine o'clock and then switching it back on again in the morning at around nine, with a cheery "Hello campers!" He has also added the counting all five fish several times over on his own initiative, just in case any have escaped in Kata's or his absence!

Additionally, in the morning, he has to feed them about half a scoop of fish food ......

..... to our relief he hasn't been tempted to dip his finger in to try it, as he says it smells absolutely disgusting!

Duties performed to the letter of his instructions, he can take a little time to take in all the tanks glorious beauty and count said fish again, before he leaves, but if he goes missing at any time we know he's only gone to check and count them again, to wit, eight times yesterday!

We're just a bit worried that after this Eric will be asking for a fish tank of his own, however we are hoping that the great weight of responsibility on his shoulders might deter such a request ........

......... as he says he can't wait for Kata to come home as the worry of keeping five fish safe and well has taken it's toll on his nerves. What is he like?

I Name This Amaryllis Richard

Oh my goodness, it has to be said that Darrell isn't renowned for having the greenest of fingers ....... 

........ however, when Lulu bought him an amaryllis plant as a thank you for his most excellent Easter lunch on Sunday ........

...... he said he was well up for the challenge of succeeding to get it to flourish and bloom, despite his aforesaid minimal skills of horticultural type nature.

The first thing to do, he decided, was give "him" a name to help "him" feel special and wanted and so, said amaryllis was duly christened Richard.

However, the first problem Darrell encountered is that Richard is very inclined to change his position throughout the day, all be it very slowly, in an effort to find the best light ......

...... which although is keeping us constantly amused, Darrell being Darrell would much prefer Richard to aesthetically stand ram rod straight, in ship shape and  Bristol fashion! However, when Darrell's out we are all carefully helping to turn Richard, so that he doesn't become overly bent and in danger of not being able to straighten up properly due to the growing size of his "head".

Then, as well as the above ....... Richard would also appear to be growing at a rapid rate of knots, which has led Eric (formally known as Nigel) to ponder whether to measure Richard's progress each day just to see......

..... as it could be that our current, rather average sized Richard ........

 

........ could become a very much larger Richard indeed in the coming weeks! Of course, as and when we have any further interesting developments, trust us ...... you'll be the first to know ........