Wardrobe

Could this wardrobe (which I've had since I was a teenager)....




ever be transformed into this.......


(from Good Housekeeping)

Tuesday

New thing today was watching an adaptation of a Thomas Hardy novel - the Woodlanders. Can't recommend it, I'm afraid....

Monday

This doesn't reflect particularly well on me, but my new thing today was the toilets at the train station. I couldn't hold on any longer and expected the worst but they were extremely clean. I came out to tell my mum but she was raving about the customer service from the lovely man at the ticket counter.

Yay for Newbury station!

Bookshelves

Still having my clearout and getting the living room ready. Our house lacks storage and as MrM won't let me put shelves up, I purchased a magnificent modular bookcase.

I've been arranging pictures, books and other bits of clutter that I can't find a home for and it kinda looks like this. In my head...



Pic from Good Housekeeping March 2011

Sunday

New thing today was the beautiful Lydiard Park near Swindon where I took ma mere for a lovely walk and a cream tea. What a lovely place and the perfect treat for two ladies on this fabulous autumnal day. We weren't the only ones enjoying the surroundings- there were lots of families and dogs soaking up the autumn colours too.

Saturday

New thing today was a lovely farm products shop that appears to have just opened in the town.

Friday

The Crab at Chieveley (was not my new thing as MrM and I had been here before for an anniversary), but did get a lift home in my colleague's car!



Had yummy (and beautifully presented!) posh fish and chips! Lovely restaurant with great food and suitably surly staff.

Good Housekeeping April 2011

Our last house (rented from an amazing and inspirational tax campaigner) had a lovely outlook much like the one pictured here. Is there anything nicer than sitting at your desk looking out over a beautifully floral garden?



What a haven Clapham is! And it's got the busiest train station in the UK!





On another note, my mum has switched around the spare bedroom and with a bit of sweat but no tears, she has managed to make it look 3x bigger! I've decluttered some books and my enormous haul of bubble wrap and I have a bit more space. Roll on the declutter - I see space and carpet at last!

Thursday

New thing today was a treatment room at lunchtime at the Wellbeing centre...

Wednesday

New thing today was the Laithwaites HQ in Theale en route to the airport where I failed to buy a case of wine for Christmas for my friend (it's ok - she doesn't read this blog).

www.laithwaites.co.uk

The Guardian magazine - "A plan for all seasons"

When MrM and I bought our house we had huge plans. With about five jobs between us, not all of the improvements have come to fruition. The upstairs bedroom looks a million times better, as does the living room, but we are reminded every day that we wanted to fix the fireplace in the dining room and expand our lean to and kitchen.

I was flicking through the Guardian magazine and saw these pictures which were exactly what I had envisaged for the leanto situation. I went to show him, but before I could say a word, he said: "That's how I imagined our lean to...."

I knew he was my soulmate!!

Tuesday

Popped into the Stratton Bakery in Chorleywood en route to a meeting. They didn't notice I was there, so I didn't buy anything.

Check out this lovely sunset which graced my windscreen on the way home!

Monday

Bit lame but I took a shortcut through a church in Seer Green at lunchtime....

Sunday

New thing today was heading to Baydon for a walk.

Saturday

New thing today was a hotel in Exeter where there was a vintage fair:





Then a Subway I've passed hundreds of times but never been to on the A30.

Friday

New thing today was a house in Bristol where my sister disappeared upstairs while I fed lil nephew his lunch. I was then called upstairs and was just gobsmacked at how beautiful she looked - she was trying on a gorgeous wedding dress. It was so her and she looked amazing. It's very elegant and classic, and made of the most beautiful and flattering material. I can't say anymore, but she looked incredible and her husband-to-be will not be disappointed!

Thursday

A dash in and out of Hawkin's Bazaar that seems to have opened recently in Northbrook Street. I didn't buy anything but think I will return when it comes to buying Christmas presents!

Wednesday

New thing today was the post office in Stalbridge where I paid for posting my parcels in pennies since that was all I had on me. They seemed pleased with all of the change so I think I can show my face in there again. I then checked out the lovely Brainwave charity shop across the street - I had no idea this was here. I didn't buy anything so can't count it as my charity thing, but well worth visiting - a nice shop with lots of reasonably priced items.

Tuesday

New thing today was stopping off to post a parcel in the post office in the lovely village of East Knoyle, Wiltshire. The village was the birthplace of architect Sir Christopher Wren in 1632 and the shop I went into today was actually called "Wren's". I picked up a free magazine while I waiting to pay and funnily enough, it fell open on an article that was written by someone I went to school with. Small world eh?!

Monday

New thing today was Sound Knowledge in Marlborough for a signing and performance by the wonderful 3 Daft MOnkeys.

Here's a lil taster of a song I'd not heard live before...

Sunday

A mad day of driving all over the country so new things were hitherto unseen parts of Bristol, Bath and even Portsmouth.

Saturday

I watched the Poseidon Adventure as my new thing. I'd never seen this before and did not know that it was written by Paul Gallico who wrote Manxmouse, one of my favourite childhood books. In fact, that reminds me that I have the Snow Goose on the bookshelf so will read this to the bump this week!

Friday

I can't remember if I've ever been to the Croft Hall in Hungerford before. I seemed to think I had, but when I got there last night, it didn't seem familiar at all so I shall count that as my new thing. I also met Sir Max Hastings last night which was another new thing - although he and I had spoken on the phone a couple of times before.

He was launching his new book "All hell let loose" which - as ever- is a comprehensive and magnificent account of normal people's lives during the 2nd World War. I managed to get there late which infuriated the organiser (who grabbed me by the arm where I'd just had an injection earlier in the day, making me jump two feet into the air....)

However, what I heard was amazing - an incredible insight into what it was like for Russian people in Leningrad, ordinary housewives in the UK, French farmers and Chinese soldiers. I bought two copies which are destined as Christmas presents, but I might see if I could borrow them afterwards. I am in good company with my praise for what I heard......

“This is the book he was born to write: a work of staggering scope and erudition, narrated with supreme fluency and insight, it is unquestionably the best single-volume history of the war ever written….. he writes with a wonderfully clear, unsentimental eye……and has a terrific grasp of the grand sweep and military strategy……But what makes his book a compelling read are the human stories……at the end of this gruesome, chilling but quite magnificent book, you never doubt that the war was worth fighting”. Sunday Times

“No other general history of the war amalgamates so successfully the gut-wrenching personal details and the essential strategic arguments. Melding the worm’s eye view and the big picture is a difficult trick to pull of – but Hastings has triumphed”. The Times

“majestic…it is impossible to emerge without a sense of the sheer scale of human tragedy…..To gather all these anecdotes together is a task in itself, but to assemble them in a way that makes sense is something entirely different….Hastings shapes all these stories, almost miraculously, into a single coherent narrative”. Daily Telegraph

“In this massive work, the crowning volume of the 10 impressive books he has written about the Second World War, Sir Max Hastings spares us nothing in portraying the sheer bloody savagery of the worst war that the world has yet seen….this magnificent book….is hypnotically readable from the first page to the last”. Sunday Telegraph

“a fast-moving, highly readable survey of the entire war…Hastings combines a mastery of the military events with invariably sound judgment and a sharp eye for unusual telling detail….this is military history at its most gripping. Of all Max Hastings’s valuable books, this is possibly his best – a veritable tour de force”. Evening Standard

‘You will struggle to find a better modern primer about the war, or one that successfully combines a deep well of military expertise with a flair for readability and the modish use of personal diaries to illustrate how ordinary people were affected by extraordinary events.’
Mail on Sunday

Thursday

New thing today was a visit to the India Shop which sells lovely Fairtrade gifts and beautiful Christmas decorations. I have no idea how I managed to come out of this shop without having bought anything!

A NEW shop is set to open in Newbury tomorrow (Saturday), although a frantic rush is on to get the store ready in time.
The India Shop, which sells a variety of Fairtrade gifts, is set to open on Bridge Street at 9am tomorrow after taking up a short term lease on a unit next to Griffin Butchers, which was formerly occupied by Cotton Traders.
However, work to fit out the shop only started today (Friday), leaving John Wyles and his team less than 24 hours to prepare.
Mr Wyles said earlier today: “There is quite a lot of work to do and it is a huge job.
“We have a lot to move in and install, including shop fittings and lights and it is going to be a busy few hours.
“It is terribly exciting.”
Mr Wyles said the shop would sell a variety of Fairtrade gifts made in India, including a selection of Christmas decorations, photo frames and throws, among many other things.
The India Shop already has shops in Marlborough, Salisbury and Wantage and Mr Wyles said the family firm had been looking ‘on and off’ to get into Newbury for quite a while.
He said: “Newbury seems to have an awful lot of people walking up and down with shopping bags.
“This is a short term trial to see how we get on and if it is an amazing success, we would be crazy to leave.”

From www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=18285

Wednesday

New thing was a house in Theale for a lovely (and much-needed!) back, neck and shoulders massage. Who knew Theale was so big?

Interlude

I am thinking about setting up an interiors blog. Better get my own house in order first, but here's a couple of things for me to think on:

Tuesday

I am so confused. What day is it? What did I do? What am I doing? Ah yes, I watched LIfe is Beautiful which was quite cute, but a bit silly really and hormones dictate that I shouldn't really be watching war films...

Monday

A very strange film called L'auberge espagnole. Not great, but at least I got to practise both my French and Spanish.

SUnday

The back of Ace Space. We were there for a class, but had to sneak out of the back because a yoga class was in the main room. A yoga class that I had planned to attend, but no one had bothered to tell me that it was starting earlier!

Saturday

My friend's new house in East Grafton. Even got to see the garage.

Friday

A lunchtime jaunt down to Basingstoke. Urgh.

Wednesday&Thursday

New parts of Nuffield Health and the new Jugsaw store!

TUesday

New thing today was the shop at the Royal Berkshire Hospital where I treated myself to a packet of Dolly MIxture after a painful hour in the waiting room listening to a woman swearing down the phone like a Spanish trucker to her friend within earshot of her little daughter. And this is after the debacle of people jumping in front of us while we were waiting for a parking spot. Grrrr!

Monday

This is really silly, but while I was waiting in the post office, I managed to read the entire Jacqueline Wilson novel The Cat Mummy (the cat incidentally shared its name with my husband!)