A Very Proud Moment For Nigel

The other day, school asked Nigel if he wouldn't mind helping out at an after school Cake and Sweet Sale .......

....... well, it was not only a great honour, but also a no brainer for the little fella, especially as his beloved Little Miss Iris was also involved. 

So, Darrell helped by making a batch of his best chocolate chip muffins, while I (not being much of a cook) bought a box of chocolate mini rolls for my part, in a small effort to support them. 

Iris and Nigel were responsible for the 50p stall, so it wasn't too hard to add up multiples or work out any change, a responsibility Nigel took very seriously, not wishing to be found in any way wanting, if there were to be any shortfall in their takings at the end of the event.

He said the nerves kicked in a little when he saw the queue of eager "shoppers" lined up outside the hall doors, but once those doors were open, there really wasn't time to let them get the better off him!

It all went too wonderfully well for words ........

..... with Iris and his stall completely selling out well before the end of the queue has a chance to get to them.  It was, he says, emotional, very emotional. Iris took a gentle but assured command, leaving Nigel happy to stand back and allow her to blossom, just passing her a paper bag or napkin when she needed one. He said he was so proud, his heart almost burst, but obviously not in any medical emergency type way, that would have ruined the occassion completely.

In the end they raised £314, after all expenses were taken out, money to help towards the repainting of the "Friendship Bench" and some home comforts for the Mental Health shed/zone and bless him, Nigel even managed to bring home a few delicacies for our own tea (paying of course) ......... which slipped down very easily, but no reviews, that would just look plain rude! Happy days! 

Nigel Ropes Alice In .......

To be honest, it didn't really need any persuading for Nigel to rope Alice into helping him listen to his beloved little readers in school, after she'd first passed her DBS checks with flying colours of course!  

He says she's a natural, quiet and patient, but not having any nonsense, in a very gentle and caring way.

According to Nigel, she picked the system up straight away, insisting, like Nigel, that all books are in the box ready for when she collects them first thing in the morning ...... with a ..... "No book, no sticker, sweeties!", which usually follows with a flurry of little ones heading to the cloakroom in search of any missing books! 

And although she's sharing Nigel's stickers for the moment, she's already ordered a little pile of her own, mainly kittens and puppies, which Nigel told her were always the most popular.

They really are a mean team reading machine ....... plus, as reward for all their toils, they get to enjoy a Cook Lady's Pizza Wednesday and Roast Dinner Thursday together ......... something Darrell is very, very jealous of!  

Darrell's Prized Snuffer

As you know, during the long, dark nights, once we've had our tea and the washing up put away, we very much enjoy being bathed in candlelight for our evening of televisual viewing, not only for the ambient atmosphere ......

...... but also, along with our motion sensor lights in the hall and bathroom, to help keep our electric bills under reasonable control.

However, perhaps what you didn't know is that Darrell has also held a long felt want for a candle snuffer to add a little Dickinson romance to our final turning in ......

....... what is he like?

Let's just say that the charity shops of Evesham have sadly not given up such  treasure, despite much searching, delving in boxes and looking right at the back and under shelves.

So, imagine the unbridled emotion and unfettered joy when Lulu came over at the weekend triumphant, brandishing the very object of Darrell's desires .....

....... making one very, very, happy little bunny's dreams finally come true, all for the princely sum of 50p and with him no longer wishing for the clocks to go forward at the end of the month quite so much ........ simple things, simple pleasures, happy days and end of evenings!

They're Down .....

You may (or may not) remember way, way back in April 2023 when we told you of  the "Hanging Trainers of Evesham" .........

....... that had already been swinging and swaying akimbo for several months before we'd even mentioned them.

 

Well, over the past 10 months or so they'd become something of a landmark for us on our way in and out of town and on the school run, with Nigel saying that as he rounded the corner from said school run, he'd always be comforted by their sight, as it meant that within 15 minutes or so he'd be back in the bosom of his family, with his tea waiting, to boot! 

BUT, yesterday, when Darrell and Nigel cast their eyes upwards, as is their usual want, they suddenly realised that the much mentioned trainers were no longer dangling high above them anymore, they were well and truly gone! 

However, after taking a few moments to compose himself, Nigel finally spotted them, a little further up the road, under the windows of one of the flats .......

...... in, to be honest, not that bad a shape considering the ravages of the seasons that they'd been suspended through during the past year.

Though now the mystery deepens even further, as we already had no idea as to how they became draped so far up in the air in the first place ....... 

.... let alone how they now appear to have come back down to earth again? All we know is that we'll miss them in a strange sort of way.  

What are we like, if not very puzzled sleuths! 

the Stuff Of Easter Nightmares

It's a really short term leading up to the Easter holidays for Nigel and his beloved readers .......

 ...... so because the little fella seems to be getting through his assorted stickers at a rate of knots, Darrell thought he'd treat Nigel (and his readers) to a couple of packets of seasonally inspired Easter ones for the last two/three weeks of term, to stick in their reading record books and/or on their sweatshirts.

However, he didn't say anything to Nigel until they arrived this week, as he wanted them to be a surprise .........

Needless to say, as you can imagine when Darrell finally gave them to Nigel it all got rather erm, emotional and a little tearful .....

...... and continued to be, as they looked through all the lovely designs together, with Nigel, bless him, even predicting with a few of them which little one would go for which sticker! 

There was only one sticker that they both decided to put aside and not put back in the packet to take to school, as it, according to Darrell, gave him the absolute ebbie jeebies, depicting a creepy, elongated, rabbit girl with a head unfeasibly too small for her body, admiring a basket of apples with another slightly old fashioned, older, real type girl, which he declared to be the stuff of nightmares!  What is he like? 

That being said, Nigel was very touched by Darrell's very thoughtful and festive gift and can't wait to get back to school to start mulling over them, with each child, choosing their favourite, after they have read  ...... well, all except for the "haunted" one! 

We Try Lidl Kuljanka Milk Chocolate With Cherry Creme Filling.

While Ali is settling in with Kata, we thought we'd do a little review to help keep us occupied ...... so as you know, we very much appreciate a cherry, preferably by the carrier bag full, from the back of a truck, on a beach in Greece ......... 

....... but, in between Greek Oddities we're happy to take our cherries any which way we can.

So, as a treat yesterday afternoon, we decided that we'd finally review the Polish chocolate bar with cherry crème filling that Nigel got us way back when it was Lidl's Eastern European week. It, we thought/hoped promised much!

The first thing that took us by surprise was the "jam". Despite the picture on the front, we'd imagined that the bar would be filled with a simple, cherry flavoured type fondant .....

...... not as two separate jam and crème entities, however, for us, this boded well, very well indeed.

The chocolate was smooth and rich, not quite to Cadbury standards, but very, very close.

However, we found the chocolate to filling ratio was nigh on perfect.  A little more jam perhaps, but then again that might have gotten a little too messy?

Without hesitation we can say that we loved it. Darrell thought it might be quite nice if mixed, in small chunks, in to a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a generous drizzle of the cherry sauce we bought back from our last Greek jaunt, nom, nom, nom! 

So, for all this, we chose to award Lidl's Kuljanka chocolate cherry crème bar a fulsome 9.5 cherry stones out of a single punnet on our world famous Richter Scale of Noms ..... and will be sending Nigel, since it's no longer available in Lidl as they've moved on a few "specials" weeks since he bought it, to look to see if he can find anything similar in the exotic supermarkets along the school run, with Darrell's ice cream idea very much on our minds! 

Safe And Sound .........

While Darrell and Nigel were up in town "rescuing" Ali, I stayed at home, I'll admit anxiously pacing up and down, almost wearing a hole our laminate flooring, until I popped over to Kata's to help her sort a few things out, a comfy bed with fresh, crisp bedding and plumped up pillows, a chest of drawers and a mirror set over said chest, a vase of fresh daffodils and a few ladies bits ....... and then, when I finally heard their keys in the door, I still nearly jumped out of my skin!

All I can say is that Alice is absolutely lovely and I, like Darrell and Nigel felt the instant rapport with her that they had. I know it's very early days, but I just know that we all have an awful lot of wonderful adventures ahead of us from now on.

We suspect that Ali has not had the best of times of late, but she knows that if she wants to talk about it, then we're here to lend an ear, along with by one of Darrell's "hippy teas", but she's told us that as far as she is concerned, her recent experiences are all simply part of life's rich tapestry, which fate has seen fit to bring us together, so there's no point dwelling on the who, what, when, where and why's or the if's and buts .......  c'est la vie!   

So although we are desperate get to know everything about Ali, like if she LOVES Eurovision as much as we do, where did/does she like to holiday and if she has a terrible sweet tooth like we do, we still need to let her settle in with Kata first, however, she's now got keys to both flats, so she can pop over to us as and when she wants, there are no invitations needed to enter our portal .....

 ....... and then, who knows, one day, perhaps, we'll eventually feel happy and relaxed enough to all live together, however, as confirmed bachelors, that may take a little time ........  and I'm rather getting a little ahead of myself !!!  

But ..... whoever would have imagined, that after our very earnest and true Leap Year/Batchelors Day thoughts, our lives would have been so turned upside down by two pairs of eyes meeting fleetingly in a charity shop, followed by the little fellas  terrible feeling of angst, guilt and shame ...... perhaps, to quote a quote "No one is sent by accident by anyone"