Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East London, Northamptionshire and Surrey (The NEXT Chapter).

Week 165 Friday 11^th August  until Friday 18^th August  2017.

If you read the previous week’s blog, you would know that I spent last weekend in the countryside at my mum’s.  Letting the train take the strain, I sat back watching the capital disappear only to be replaced by rolling green fields.  Many of these were not filled with sheep and cows as expected; they have been evicted and replaced by solar farms and forests of wind turbines.

  Public transport was a breeze for once.

After I stepped off the train I witnessed something special.  A dog that had been waiting patiently with its owner suddenly got excited barking and pulling on the lead.  After a couple of minutes, a young woman appeared who scooped up the dog in a loving embrace and was welcomed with a sloppy puppy kiss.  My welcome was nearly as messy, sitting with my sister in her car were my mum and a very excited 5 year old.  My niece planted a sloppy kiss on me which was almost as messy as the canine smooch.  What a wonderful way to be greeted and a lovely start to a weekend away from the big smoke.

   Fun getting dirt under the finger nails.

My niece and I spent a lot of time in the garden rummaging around looking for ants and other creepy crawlies under stones.  The two of us helped a Bumble Bee who appeared to have gotten lost in the undergrowth unable to find the big blue sky.  When a child invents a game that they enjoy, one thing they love is to repeat it over and over.  So, for a period of time we roamed through the garden pretending to be lost, only to stumble across the house and grandma sitting in the sun on the garden bench.  There was a moment of delight for all when a wild baby bunny was spotted sunning its self on the grass.  My sister said she has seen this and other bunnies before, very sweet.

   I didn’t spill very much keeping up. 

Every morning I took my niece for a walk to the petrol station, we both came away excited because I had a Starbucks and she was holding another magazine with a badly made toy, but more importantly lots of stickers, every child loves stickers.  Highlights on these trips (apart from the Starbucks of course) were waving at lorry drivers and motorcyclist who not only waved back but in the case of the lorry drivers flashed all their lights to the delight of a little girl.

  Loving Aunty H and teaching Grandma a thing or too.

My mums house is small so at night my niece and I slept in the living room.  The sofa bed was mine, while my sister had bought a new “Spiderman” sleeping bag/bed for the pint-sized visitor.  However, Friday night she slept with me, being worried about her rolling off the edge I stacked all the remaining cushions next to her just in case.  Maybe my snoring put her off doing that again because on Saturday she crawled into her sleeping bag once she’d had enough of the film we were watching.  One thing that didn’t make her fall asleep was watching 3 episodes of  ”Doctor Who” (Season 10) back to back, she requested them honest!

  Down the Pub.

Sunday was the final day.  Even though my niece was having fun, she was very excited when her mum arrived to take her home later that day; I was hitching a lift with them back to leafy Surrey.  This wasn’t until after a lovely pub lunch at a local family run country pub where we met my up with cousin Catherine.  Once again, I spent a lot of time playing, helping a little girl hang from monkey bars, or climbing up ropes or just sliding repeatedly down various slides.

 Look who was snoring in the back of the car. 

The weekend was so much fun, of course it was great to see my mum, sister and cousin.  But spending quality time with one of my favourite little people in the world made the whole weekend very special.  I don’t get out into the countryside that often, I need to visit mum more often, I’m a bad daughter.  There is a date in September that I am eyeing up, and already looking forward to my next visit.

   I was told not to play with my food, but who cares.

And Now For Something Completely Different……  

 Do i look like i care, about your missed bin.

About a month ago I was approached by the lovely Tommy Royal who I knew off through listening to certain podcasts.  He wanted to adapt a short film script I had written into a radio play.  Within a period of a month he had produced a full audio production, there is a link at the bottom of this ramble.

   A star in the making.

Amongst the talented voice artist are my niece and sister who are both integral to the plot.  However the person playing the policewoman is just a hanger on who wrote herself a part wanting to be involved in this exciting project.

  Look away nothing to see here.

If you would like to listen to the story of “Sookie” please click here.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/sookie/id1264683877?i=1000390979648&mt=2

 Quiet, its a baby bunny….

 Writing this shiz.

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have mainly been watching:  

“60 Day’s In Jail”, (S2, ep 6).  “Angel”, (S1, ep 4 to ep 8).  “Being Human”, (S3, ep 6 to ep 8)(S4, ep 1 & ep 2).  “Boss Baby”, (2017).  “Celebrity Big Brother”, (S20, ep 13).  “Cleverman”, (S2, ep 2 to ep 5).  “Click”, (TX: 12/08/17).  “Doctor Who”, (S36/S10, ep 1 to ep 3).  “Gravity”, (2013).  “I know Who You Are”, (S1, ep 3 & ep 4).  “Living Differently”, (S2, ep 1: TX:10/08/17).  “Night At The Museum”, (2006).  “People Just Do Nothing”, (S4, ep 1).  “Quacks”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 6).  “Secrets Of Silicon Valley”, (ep 2, TX: 13/08/17).  “Super Small Animals”, (TX: 09/08/17).  “The Bug Grub Couple”, (TX: 07/08/17).  “The Last Leg”, (S11, ep 13).  “The Mash Report”, (S1, ep 4).  “The Sky At Night”, 9TX: 13/08/17).  “Thunderbirds Are Go”, (S2, ep 6).  “Top Of The Lake: Paradise Lost”, (S1, ep 5 & ep 6).  “Top Of The Lake: China Girl”, (S2, ep 1).  “Tornado-100mph Steam Train”, (TX: 15/05/17).  “Trust Me”, (S1, ep 2).  “Utopia: In Search Of The Dream”, (ep 1, TX: 08/08/17)(ep 2, TX: 15/08/17).         

This week I have mainly been listening to:

“Anarchic Audio: Intro”, (25/07/17).  “Anarchic Audio: Punny You Should Say That, (pt 2: 16/08/17).  “Anarchic Audio: Sookie”, (13/08/17).  “Feedback (R4)”, (13/08/17)“Iain Lee: TalkRADIO (Bonus)”, (09/08, 10/08/17).  “Iain Lee: TalkRADIO (Highlights)”, (10/08, 11/08, 14/08/17).  “LBC Podcast: Mystery Hour”, (09/08/17).  “LBC Podcast: Nick Abbot (Whole Show)”, (11/08, 12/08, 18/08/17).  “Soundtracking With Edith Bowmen”, (ep 51,11/08/17).  “Strange Times”, (ep 230, 14/08/17)(ep 75, 06/10/14)(ep 74, 30/09/14)(ep 73, 21/09/14)(ep 72, 14/09/14)(ep 71, 09/09/14).  “The Aggy Fox Podcast”, (ep 7, 13/03/17).  “The Angelos And Barry Podcast”, (14/06/16)(11/08, 16/08/17).  “The Rabbit Hole”, (ep 24, 17/08/17).  “These People Podcast”, (ep 35, 14/08/17).  “Morrissey”,  “P.J Harvey”,  “Suede”,  “Ladyhawke”,  “Arcade Fire”,  ”R.E.M”,  “Nirvana”.