What are friends for ...

Friends are marvellous aren't they? We all need at least one friend in life; someone to laugh and cry with; someone to go shopping and have coffee with!! and of course someone to share germs with!!

There are an awful lot of nasty 'bugs' around at the moment and I think one of my dear friends inadvertently took this 'sharing' idea a bit far and I succumbed yesterday. But ... I 'took to my bed' (I don't really need much excuse to do that!) in the afternoon yesterday and woke this morning feeling much better. As well as friends, I think sleep is also pretty fantastic too.

Besides, we're all going out for a meal to a very good Indian Restaurant tonight so I have to be better, don't I?

I know it's far too early, but it's fun!

I named 8 reindeer in 30 seconds

Thanks to Mulier Fortis for the link to this quiz. I know it's not even Advent yet but I'm trying to get in the mood for 'you know what'!

The 'C' word is of course preceded by the 'A' word!

I wonder does anybody else have the difficulty I have each year in finding pink and purple candles for our Advent wreath at home?

We've always had an Advent wreath in our home and I always remember one at home as a child - from the bent-coathanger contraption that dripped wax over us as we stood looking up at it and in which - despite her best efforts, my mother could never quite get the candles to stay upright - to the enviable de-luxe versions in shop windows!

When I first began making our own version, there were candles of every possible hue around at all times of year but I've noticed recently that from October onwards it's red, green, gold or silver, and that's your lot. If you look hard enough you may be lucky enough to come across a purple candle, but pink - no way! What's wrong with pink? You can find just about everything else (apart from candles) in pink - from Cadillacs to cummerbunds but nothing vaguely resembling a candle.

As it's not Advent until next Sunday I don't have a picture of this year's wreath but here's one of last year's - sorry about the red candles!!!

I'm easily distracted !

OK, so we're getting near the end of November and the 'C' word is fast approaching!

About this time of year, I try ... I really do try, to take more notice of what's in the shops that might be appreciated as a little gift by one of our family or friends.

Now, in our family, we all enjoy a good book. We all have different tastes but I think we more or less know what to look for. So I thought I'd have a browse in our local Waterstones.

Every time I moved from display to display trying to focus on gifts for others, I was distracted by titles that sounded 'right up my street'. End result? - I came out of the shop with a long list of books to suggest to others that I would be happy to find in my stocking on Christmas morning and only one or two for every body else!

I think I'll have to try a pair of blinkers next time to stop me going off course!

'Lame excuses' ... pardon the pun!!

I wouldn't claim to know very much about football but I do enjoy watching it sometimes, especially the national team. If you follow the game at all you will be aware that there is a 'friendly' international this evening against Germany (long time football rivals!!).

It would appear that Fabio Capello is struggling to field a team of 11 players looking at the long list of injured players. There is also the ongoing debate about 'club versus country'. You can understand that the clubs don't want their star players injured in a friendly match and be out of action for their club for weeks to come.

However, whichever side of the fence you come down on that particular argument, I was amused to read the following additional reasons for players' unavailability on Robbo Robson's blog on BBC's football page.

Theo Walcott (his dog's poorly); Joleon Lescott (certified hopeless); Gabby Agbonlahor (cheese allergy); Gareth Barry (needs to take a jumper back to M and S cos his Mum bought him the wrong size); Jermain Defoe (he's got a Pilates course Wednesday night) Ashley Young (eye test); David Bentley (brylcreem removal)....

I would say Robbo was getting a bit fed up with some of the probably genuine reasons why certain players were unavailable to play for the national team this evening.

As a footnote, I heard on the news this morning that Theo Walcott doesn't need to worry about his 'poorly dog' as he managed to dislocate his shoulder in training yesterday so is out of tonight's squad anyway!

Le Touquet

We had a very good weekend in Le Touquet. It really was a bit like I had imagined with definite signs of the influence of earlier British tourists to be seen in various things such as names of streets and styles of architecture. Our hotel was the Hotel Bristol for example.

We had a good journey down to Folkestone, under an hour and plenty of time for coffee beforehand. We had a slight hitch as you can see from the first photo as our shuttle was delayed over an hour and we spent that time in the car in the queue waiting to board and looking out at this sign!

Here's our hotel - and very comfortable it was too with excellent staff; friendly and professional.

This is the covered market not far from our hotel. Unfortunately the market was finished by the time we arrived but a pretty building, don't you think?

The picture taken in the evening makes it look like a bustling city but it was very quiet and in our walk around in the afternoon, the streets were almost empty.

Lots and lots - and even more - restaurants, bars, patisseries, chocolatiers etc. Heaven for anyone who enjoys good food. We managed to squeeze in a visit to a bar for lunch, a different bar for a quick coffee and a lovely restaurant for dinner. Not bad when you think we didn't get there until about 3pm! Also lots of other good shops.

This merry-go-round was at the seafront. We all decided we must go back and spend a bit more time there next time. Definitely worth a second visit

We're off for a little outing tomorrow ....

Yes, we're off for a little trip to France tomorrow with some very good friends. Just staying overnight but it'll be a lovely break, I'm sure. Something about the name of the place - Le Touquet - conjures up all sorts of delightful images.

It makes me think of the 'idle rich' sauntering around this little French sea-side town in the 1920's with nothing more to worry about than where their next cocktail was coming from!

We can but dream! It'll be nice to play the part for a few hours, anyway! Will let you know how we got on once we get back.

Another busy week ..

I don't know where this week has gone to! Everywhere seems to be busy; home, work, life, the world, the universe ....!!

I seem to have extended my birthday/our anniversary celebrations well into this week and I can tell that my waistline has also been extended somewhat but that's another story!

I suppose the news of the week must be the US election. In year's to come this will the subject of one of those quizes, where were you when ...? Where were you when the citizens of the USA elected their first black (well mixed-race at least) president?

Like most households in Britain (I would imagine) we were all gripped by the news coverage of the presidential election and were all late getting to sleep as we listened/watched the results coming in late into the night and well into the early hours of the morning. Adrian was on a business trip to Bulgaria and he watched the TV coverage there.

Things have calmed down a bit now and we are all waiting and watching. Praying too that nothing awful will happen before the inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama in January 2009.