Oh no not another burglary on Sandy Lane!

I cannot say how angry I am about the latest burglary on Sandy Lane. It seems that Dai & Helena's shed had the door kicked in and a chainsaw was stolen. Cartref is being rebuilt and the chainsaw is one of Dave's tools that he uses frequently. This awful situation has to stop! Can everybody be extra vigilant and maybe go for more frequent strolls around the lane to keep an eye on things. I hope the culprit is found soon as this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. For those that have been the victims of these dreadful crimes the impact is obviously much worse and must shake your sense of security and safety when your home has been violated and that's what it is, a violation of people's personal, private space by someone who is uncaring or unmoved by the distress that is being caused. Whatever the reasoning behind this, whether it is someone who is just greedy, desperate or just too stoned and lazy to do it for themselves or too proud to ask for help, the resulting distress is not to be trivialized. 

Watch out, watch out...there's STILL a thief about.....

A wonderful weekend in the midlands

I have returned home tonight after spending a lovely weekend in the Midlands. I travelled up in the trusty Gert to my Sister Sharon's on Friday night and Gert was not quite as trusty as she has previously been. I just got to Ross and she started to splutter and cut out....argh! Freezing cold and pitch black I kangaroo jumped to a lay by and thought about what I had in the car to sort the problem. It felt like fuel starvation so I thought a quick look under the bonnet might give me some idea...oh no, no torch in the car. Then I remembered a small torch I keep in my handbag for emergencies (I am a Virgoan after all). Donning scarf, coat and gloves I braved the cold and had a look, it was very obvious not much fuel was getting through and the problem was a blocked fuel filter. I needed to clean it out but it was firmly held by 2 hose clips and I didn't have any tools in the car (so unlike me) back to the handbag with everything in it and I found a flip out screwdriver on a keyring..hooray, 5 minutes JOB DONE! Gert now sloshing with fuel and running fine I carried on to Kidderminster to a very welcome cup of tea and gorgeous meal with my wonderful sister. We then sat and chatted until the early hours about all manner of things both past and present and rolled off to bed happy and content in each other's company. Next morning I took off to meet my Granddaughter Erin in Worcester for a bit of shopping as an early Birthday treat as she is off to Rome next month with St. Mary's Choir to sing in 2 concerts in The Vatican. No young lady should go to Rome without a few fab new additions to her wardrobe and so we hit the shops! We had a great time and bought shoes, jeggings, tops,skirts,tights,leggings,dresses and a scarf and gloves! Erin was delighted and I was delighted at her obvious pleasure. 

Erin in one of her outfits

The fab shoes from Office!

Back to Danie's for a short visit before meeting my brother Graham and his wife Dorothy with my sister Sharon at The Fox Inn at Chaddesley Corbett for a wonderful meal before going back to Gra & Dorothy's for coffee and much hilarity as we reminisced together  and played with their little Jack Russel Max.

Sharon and I had a very late night and got up late this morning. We had lunch in Worcester at The Perdiswell which was more like purgatory with all the screaming children in there! We went our seperate ways and I arrived home to a very enthusiastic welcome from my little Tink who almost wagged herself in half! My wonderful Hubby had cooked a lovely curry and rice for tea and after a nice cuppa and a cuddle I was totally snuggly back home.

A wonderful weekend with family that as usual makes me count my blessings......

TOTALLY AWFUL THEFTS CONTINUE>>>

I am so annoyed that the spate of thefts has continued on Sandy Lane. It seems that Mandy at Hedgeways is     
the latest victim. After unscrewing a window to get in it seems he/she/they spent some time in the house before leaving with a bottle of whiskey and jewellery. It is my thought that whoever is doing this must be a familiar face on the lane and does not arouse suspicion...no car as only small transportable items are taken (so far). This leaves me with a sick feeling that we may know this person.
Sandy Lane has had it's share of villains over the years but on the whole we are a pretty low crime area. This kind of thing is really sickening in our small community and if anyone can think of a way to catch the thieving git please let everyone know. In the meantime just be extra vigilant and make sure you lock up and put valuables away. 
If anyone does catch them please can we give them a sound thrashing before calling the police? I think they deserve it!

THE THIEVING B*****DS HAVE BEEN AT IT AGAIN!!

The low life scum are at it again!! Tower field has been the target this time and poor Tony from Jubilee had the door forced and a wallet and 'phone stolen.

This happened on a Tuesday the same day as the other recent theft...could this be a coincidence or is there someone around on a Tuesday that isn't normally about? Be vigilant folks, lock up and put valuables away..if you see anything suspicious report it straight away to the police,  then come and round up some Laners to dish out some instant Karma to the thieving s**tbags or of course that could be in the opposite order if the mood takes you!

I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year

THEFT ALERT

PLEASE BE AWARE THERE HAVE BEEN THIEVES ABOUT ON THE LANE.

NEW DAWN WAS BROKEN INTO AND A CAMERA AND KEYS TAKEN. IT APPEARS THERE MAY BE A LINK TO A GREEN SALOON CAR SEEN AROUND ON A COUPLE OF OCCASIONS CONTAINING SOME FOUL MOUTHED UNPLEASANT YOBS WHO TOLD A 7 YEAR OLD TO F**K OFF! IF YOU NOTICE IT PLEASE JOT DOWN THE DETAILS,MODEL MAKE AND MOST IMPORTANTLY REGISTRATION & RING IT IN TO THE POLICE WHO ARE INVESTIGATING.

SAD TO SAY THIS BUT LOCK EVERYTHING UP

A WORD OF WARNING TO THOSE COMMITTING THESE DESPICABLE CRIMES....YOU'LL WISH YOU'D BEEN ARRESTED IF WE CATCH YOU AT IT!!

I CALL IT KARMA & I SINCERELY HOPE YOU LOT GET YOURS SOON.

A day for the girls...

I was off work on Tuesday and Karl asked if I could have Hannah and Megan for the day. I of course said yes as these days I don't get much time with them on my own. They popped down in the morning and we talked about what we should do with the day. By 11.00am it was getting warm but still overcast so we decided to go to Singleton Park with Tink first and then onto Blackpill if the sun came out.
We packed the bags and climbed aboard the trusty Gerty and drove to Singleton Park. We parked the car and went to the playground first, not Tink of course  she and I watched from the fence. We walked over to the boating lake and the girls were horrified that Tink did a poo and I picked it up with a poo bag. I showed them the doggy bins and explained that dog poo is not nice to tread in and can sometimes cause diseases especially for children. They nodded thoughtfully and agreed it was best to pick it up but both said they weren't going to do it!
We all decided it would be fun to paddle a dragon boat so we paid our money and climbed aboard..a photo opportunity if ever there was one. Thankfully no-one had a camera! Tink sat on my lap and Hannah and I paddled and Meg sat in the middle and steered. We paddled around in a bit of a zig zag pattern, I believe the correct term would be 'tacking' but there was nothing correct about it, we terrified a large swan boat full of an Indian family who had to take evasive action to avoid a collision. We got caught in the overhanging trees and had to stretch up and paddle backwards to disentangle ourselves. Tink wanted to chase the geese,ducks and anything else on the lake but I explained she was not related to anyone holy and it was unlikley  that she would actually be able to walk, let alone run, on water and I was going to keep a tight hold on her. She caused oohhs and aarghs from everyone who seemed to think it odd that my little dog was loving her first boat trip! We paddled on Meg screamed at a floating bit of wood....did she think it was a shark perhaps, who knows. Our ears were ringing and our legs were aching so we headed for the mooring point. Getting out was no more graceful for me than getting in but I made it without falling in.
We played a round of crazy golf, gave Tink a drink of water and then moved onto the bouncy slide and a roundabout ride. After all that we walked the perimeter of the lake and went to lunch in The Pub On The Pond and very nice it was too.

Super fast sliding!!

We packed up and headed for the Lido at Blackpill, parked Gerty in the shade and crossed the road. We found a shady spot right by the pool under the trees and the girls were straight in after slapping on lots of sun cream. I went to the shop and bought a big inflatable ring which the girls in the shop kindly inflated for me and a fresh bottle of water. The girls loved the ring and Tink loved the water!
I started to read my book but after a few minutes I noticed Tink was caught by the foot on the blanket, on closer inspection I found to my horror that she was attached by a fishing hook with 10inches of line still attached. I gently freed her from the blanket and inspected her little back foot....the hook had just nicked the skin but was totally embedded in her thick fur. I had visions of rushing to the vet but stopped panicking and went over to the shop who lent me a pair of scissors and I snipped the fur to remove the offending hook. How careless of the fisherman to leave that nasty thing lying around, thankfully no harm came to Tink thanks to her fluffy little feet but it could so easily have been a child and that would have been a different story.

Little Tink worn out after her day out!

After several hours of fun we were ready to go home and cook...the girls favourite pastime with Nanny.
We called into Mumbles and picked up some fresh strawberries and the ingredients for a nice stir fry for tea.
The girls chopped and sliced and diced and stirred and soon we were sat out on the patio eating with Gandy, Dan and Lyndsey. A nice bath and hair wash and then Gandy and I walked Tink and the girls back up Karl to put them to bed.....they both kised me goodnight and said thank you for a lovely day, Meg said I was the best Nanny in the whole world and Hannah said she thought so too. I thanked them both for being such good girls and making it such a fun day for me too.
My beautiful girls  make me very proud and I treasure our special times together...I am very blessed and I am thankful.

WATCH OUT WATCH OUT THERE'S A TEA LEAF ABOUT!

We are very lucky to live on Sandy Lane and for the most part it is a very safe place to be. Unfortunately every now and again we have a spate of thefts. I must warn you all of recent events, several thefts from cars and garden sheds have taken place on the lane recently. They even stole hoodies and fleeces from the cars, so please take your belongings inside, put a lock on your shed and be aware that there are some despicable b*****ds around who will think nothing of nicking your stuff.

As usual I have a message for these light fingered pond scum :

IF WE CATCH YOU STEALING, 

YOU'LL WISH YOU HAD BEEN ARRESTED!