Paula's Place

Paula's Place

Thursday 20 April 2017

My Office Today

A new Gravel Garden I built in Penge
Rhododendron in Beckenham

Wednesday 19 April 2017

It's all in the Name II

Gloria Monday on tour in France, 2011
I had always promised myself if I ever bought a Ford Transit I would call it Gloria, so when I did, I did! My second Transit was also called Gloria, but by way of differentiation she was Gloria Tuesday.

Gloria Tuesday was not such a good van as Gloria Monday, and never really managed to gain a place in my heart. So when she gave up the ghost and I had to buy a new van I was not too sorry.   That was when Dannie came into my life.    Dannie is a much better vehicle, more powerful, better suspension, better steering, more comfortable, just a slightly smaller box on the back.
Dannie the Vito

Rocinante
As far as cars go I have had several and very few have warranted names, Jade the Singer Vogue, Minnie the Hillman Minx ( my first car) are the prime examples, but when the little Seat came into my life last year she was crying out to be named, listening to BBC Radio Four's adaptation of Graham Green's Monsignor Quixote last year it became obvious that she had to be named Rocinante!

Saturday 15 April 2017

It's all in the name

"Jade" at the Singer Centenary Rally
I am very good at giving good advice, but maybe not so good at following it, especially my own.   I have often observed that I am actually very good with money, as long as it's not my own, I am pretty much the same with restraint!
Mrs T

One of my many pieces of good advice is not to give inanimate objects names; it will only lead to an emotional attachment which then makes it more difficult to make rational decisions concerning them.   Cars, motorbikes, musical instruments can all appear to have characters which lead to them having a name, but they are still just objects.   I know when I sold my beloved Singer Vogue known as Jade it was a big emotional wrench, I still miss my tubas, "Honk" and "Mrs. T".   To me it seems foolish to voluntarily put yourself through such emotional turmoil, especially for a thing!

In which case I have to wonder why I have ended up with a Tuba known as "Big Shinny" and another call "Baby Besson", perhaps even more foolish is the car called, Roccinante, the van called "Dannie" and perhaps worst of all a brooch called "Berwick"!

Thursday 13 April 2017

It is easy!

While I appreciate that the sentiment is hardily new, but, I have been really busy! Every thing in every garden is growing, and with the mild weather we have been having growing well.   This always seems to be my busiest time of year, with a combination of customers realising that fences have been damaged and winter tiding not done, along with all the usual spring work of grass cutting, lawn raking, rose and other shrub pruning.   This tends to be a time when I am working my socks off, and not yet reaping the rewards. I trust that they are rewards delayed by my invoicing system, but it can make April a hard month!

Add to that lot an unusual amount of musical work ~ I always call it work but very little of it turns a profit ~ and much of my discretionary activity has fallen by the wayside.

It is easy to be pessimistic, as I say I seem to have been working all the time, yet am no better off, As a Nation out education system is a mess, and the Governments solution appears to be to take us back to the 60s with selective schools. We all know that our health system is falling apart yet even Nurses are thinking about strike action as they get yet another below inflation pay award.   We widely accept out Police Officers as heroes, yet even though they will put themselves in the way of danger to protect us,  their funding is also being cut, so there will not be enough trained Officers to man the thin blue line.   We have to wait longer to get our pensions, pay for our Children's music lessons and university education, at the same as we are further impoverished paying for our parents care.

Over successive elections we ~ the electorate ~ have chosen the type of Country we want to live in, one that doesn't care about the needy, chooses not to pay those who serve us a decent wage, not to fund education or health. In short we have become a society where money, personal wealth, is valued more highly than public service, or indeed people.

It is easy to be pessimistic, yet then I remember that today is Maundy Thursday, the day when we remember Christ sharing His last Passover with his friends, the Apostles ~ what we call the Last Supper and the basis of our Christian Communion.   The day when Christ knowing what was a bout to happen, freely went to his sacrifice, the sacrifice that bought our freedom. That allowed us direct access to God tearing down the Temple Curtain, that served the sentence for our misdeeds so that we could live in freedom.

Last night I watched the Cohen Brothers film "True Grit" I had always enjoyed the original John Wayne and wondered why we needed a remake, however I found in an excellent film, indeed a better one than the original.   One line in particular struck, when the young girl said, in live we have to pay for everything, everything has a consequence ~ nothing in live is free, except God's Grace.

So yes it is easy to be pessimistic, and I am afraid that if we are not careful we will "all be going to hell in a handcart", yet I choose to be optimistic, I know that we can enjoy God's love, and that we can receive His Grace, if evil can be defeated then so can selfishness, apathy, and, greed. 

Monday 3 April 2017

March Stats

YIPPEE!! I have lost a (little) bit of weight, I am now just over 12 and a half stone, only about half a stone to go before I am where I want to be.

So not many posts in March, what have I been up to?

Being Visible in Croydon Town Hall
Weight 12 stone 8 pounds
Weight lost 4 lbs
BMI 25.2 still over weight but not by much now
Days with no alcohol 31
Days Worked 22
Music Performance made 4
Recordings made 1 (over 2 days)
Court Cases attended 1
Funerals 2
Flags hoisted 1
Civic Receptions 1
Speeches made 1
EON Failed appointments 1
Rooms Painted 1

YEP, it's been a busy month

I had thought about doing the blogging A - Z again this month, but it's already too late, and quite frankly I have too much on to guarantee daily updates!