" HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BONG " !!

Well, it's that time of year again for myself and other fellow Aquarians. I believe I share my birthday with Neil Diamond? Could be wrong though. Are there any other famous dudes I share it with? Anyway, I'm having a day off today. Apart from looking after Rosie Roo, I'll be doing no washing, ironing or cleaning today.... lovely! Going out for my tea with David & the kids too (great no cooking!). It doesn't feel so bad being 38. David and I are the same age for about 3 weeks, then he's 39!! Ha! He's already all doom n gloom about knockin' on 40's door! BTW, this photo was taken on the front at Llandudno, North Wales. I think I was about 2 or 3. I loved those sunglasses!

Team Carrington !

Introducing my lovely David! I'm doing this post for him cos he was a bit upset last night. For the past 12 months, David has rented his place out to a lad he knew from work. He was glad to get his keys back cos he'd missed his little "bolt-hole" when we have our barneys. Anyway, lets just say they'd not exactly cleaned up after they left. They'd not wrecked the place but it was immaculate when David rented it out. I've rented before and I cleaned it from top to bottom (3 storey too) before handing it back. So he was nowty when he got in and restless in his sleep last night. Anyway, I headed over there today after the school drop off and made a start. It took me 90 minutes to clean the downstairs loo and a bit of the kitchen (microwave and fridge were health hazards!). I put the heating on to make it cosy again, tea & coffee, milk in the fridge etc..

I know it's his place but I know how proud he is of it, and all the hard work he's put into it, and even though there are always chores to do at mine, I'll still do my bit at his until it's straight. We're not married or anything. We've both been there once and got severely stung, but a guess we can call ourselves "Team Carrington" when it comes to sorting stuff out. Don't worry ginge! We'll get it sparklin' again in no time at all!

Garry Newlove - RIP

Look a these children..............

These boys took away the life of an outstanding man, who was ready to stand up for what was right. One of them only just released on bail, and part of those bail conditions were to stay out of Warrington. How dare they. Who are they to do something like that? Calling them animals is an insult to animals. They are scum and now they must pay the price. I hope the British Justice System will eventually deliver a sentence suitable for the crime they have committed, and I hope they DO stay in jail for a very, very long time.

When this crime was committed last year, it rang some very clear bells to me. Several years ago, a group of youngsters - probably no older than 14 or 15, thought it would be a good idea to vandalise one of our cars in front of us, and then give us a load of verbal on top of that. For those of you who were unfortunate enough to know my Ex - husband Lee, this was like a red rag to a bull and he went after them and squared-up to the tallest lad in the group. All of a sudden, the gang increased in size and Lee was surrounded by boys AND girls and they were pushing him towards the gable end of our house. Thankfully, our quick-witted neighbour saw what was going on and phoned the police and told them if they didn't get here quick, they were going to murder him. They were here in 5 minutes with blues n twos going, which was unfortunate in a way as they all legged it and none were arrested for assault or vandalism.

The incident passed, but since then more and more of these events are occurring in our society. Some children don't seem to understand what respectful behaviour is anymore. I worry that my own kids will eventually fall foul of something so horrendous, despite our best efforts to instill the knowledge of right and wrong, good manners and behaviour from the moment they're born.

What do you think the answer is to get the message through to these kids? Do you reckon something like Bootcamp (National Service) would do any good? Do you think it's because they play too many video games and watch too much violence on TV, thus making behaviour like that more "socially acceptable"? Breaking these street corner groups up is effective but only temporarily, and credit to the Police and PCSO's, they do their best within their means, but it's not stopping it from happening.

It's truly a crime that it took Garry Newlove's death to bring these type of things into the public eye once again. Let's hope something more positive is done about this, this time.

COMPLAINT !!

It seems I've got off with a bad start with my blogging. Unfortunately, it looks like I've inadvertently offended one of you guys out there. If I have, I apologise, however, I'd like to know if possible what the offensive item was so that I can at least try and rectify it. I've had no comments apart from those of womtig and I know it's not him!
My rants & tants etc are my personal thoughts and views, they are not racist, abusive or judgemental and I try and keep the language as clean as possible! I welcome feedback on my posts.
I was under the impression that was what blogging was all about, nevertheless, again I apologise for any offense caused. If you'd like to email me directly about it please feel free, to wigasaurus@hotmail.com

Recycling. Should we bother?

How many of you recycle? I never used to bother until about 2 years ago, when our beloved Tameside Council put an advert in the advertiser asking if we wanted different bins for different things. Fantastic! At last, only 10 years too late and only because the Government are putting pressure on local Government to deal with it better. In the past, it was way too expensive to recycle. The cheaper option is to shovel all our waste into Land-fills - marvellous when you see them slap-bang in the middle of countryside with obese seagulls feeding off all the crap there!

Anyway these bins! I've got one of each now and use them totally. If you asked David, he'd say I'm obsessed with recycling and often have to fish out things from the house bin to put in the different bins outside! I have issues with these bins though. Nice colours etc.. but for a family my size, they're too bloody small! They're half the size of the black wheelie bins. The ones in the picture are massive compared to mine.

We're down for pick ups every 4 weeks for the recycle bins. My green one that takes plastic and glass is usually full within 14 days. My blue bin for paper was full before Christmas, and because of new year, the next pick up wasn't due til February!! How stupid is that.

I spend more money phoning TMBC to do extra pick ups. I've requested bigger or extra bins, but they won't oblige.

My point is, it doesn't exactly encourage you to recycle when your bins are full to bursting and the council won't do anything about it. They threaten us with managed waste collection (weekly to every two weeks) despite this. That would be interesting where I live which is right behind a reservoir. I've seen rats the size of household cats occasionally. Could you imagine what it would be like with rubbish lying everywhere on the streets, not to mention the cats and dogs ripping the bags open to get at all first!

I DO still do my bit though and always will, as long as TMBC don't threaten me with legal action for recycling incorrectly (if I ever do), like that poor bloke from London that time. I'm also training the kids to do it too. My Granny Nield used to do it. Milk bottle tops and tin foil for the Guide Dogs, paper envelopes either reused or made into drawing paper for me and my brother Mike, newspaper in the compost heap as well as food scraps, pop bottles back to the pop man for a penny. There wasn't as much plastic in those days and I think there lies the problem. Did you know that once you've bought your items from supermarkets, you can give them back the excess packaging before leaving the store, although it does p*ss off the check out girls putting the fruit and veg through unbagged - slows 'em down a bit too! Hilarious!

Anyway, let me know what you think. I think that's enough ranting from me today. Rosie needs feeding and changing, then we're going for the big weigh in! I reckon she's about 12lb 4oz. I'll keep you posted.

Obesity. Where's it come from and what can we do about it?

This is a topic close to my heart, as I'm battling to lose the flab after having Rosie. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a beached whale or anything. It just seems I've ground to a halt a bit - probably due to the Christmas food binge.
I know everyone tends to put on a few pounds over the years, and as I'm creeping towards the big 40, it worries me that despite my best efforts, I've put on about 30 lbs (just over 2 stone) in the last ten years. My excuse is too many biscuits, too many ready-made meals (not necessarily take-aways), and massive portions. There's also been a definate lack of exercise!
I feel this advance in technology over the last 10 years has particularly contributed although it was starting way before then. People sit around on their arses too much and drive everywhere rather than walking. We've developed into a Couch Potato society and expect everything to be handed to us on a plate. In the old days, they called it laziness! As for the food, people need to get back to basics. It's not rocket science however it does take a bit longer to do in the kitchen which puts people off.
When I worked at the Uni many moons ago, I worked with a fantastic lady called Rita Taylor who was a supermum! She did a batch cookathon every Friday and froze everything for the week ahead. I did it for a bit bit have fallen by the way side. It's time to start again, especially since I'm going back to work soon and need to get organised a bit better. Has anyone got any good recipes (especially from overseas) that freeze well and are tasty? Let me know. Let me know your comments about how you think society or technology has caused obesity to flare up in the world.

P.S. No, I'm not one of those large ladies on the photo, thank you!!

Our Rosie!

Well, here she is. The reason I've not been bloggin for ages. She's super. Rosie Elizabeth Carrington, born 1st October 2007. I might as well have had 6 more kids. The workload has tripled on top of Adam and Lucy. I'm currently sat here one-handed typing with her balancing on my knee playing with one of her baby toys!! All good fun eh? I'm getting too old for this now. No more. I'll take Jeremy Kyles advice...... " Have you not heard of contraception?!"