Pensioner's Perks

I'm gearing up towards becoming an official OAP. I've applied for my pension to start immediately after my 60th birthday. I've had my forecast (not bad but I wont be rich enough to buy you all a drink). Needless to say there are a few errors in my NI contributions and credits. But I've been far too busy at home over the last couple of weeks to get it sorted out. Well I asked them to re assess it a few weeks before Christmas and I've yet to receive a reply.

I'm about to complete a form and get photo ID for my bus pass. Whee . . . free bus travel. I'll be able to stand in the cold wind and rain while I wait half an hour for a bus that may have come and gone already( the hourly bus has an irregular idea of keeping to a schedule).

warning: For readers of this blog outside the UK I looked up OAP on Google and foundthe link at the end which is only for readers who want to broaden their minds, are already broad minded and definitely is not for animal lovers ... well it depends ... animal lovers

Here and There

I am currently sitting in a Worthing hotel on the south coast. I've spent a week with my sister, seen nephews and niece and am about to visit an elderly aunt before I make the return trip home tomorrow. Last week with family was fun and gossipy but exhausting. I left the Croydon area at 10 yesterday morning and drove along with thousands of bikers down the A23/M23 towards Brighton. Apart from the sheer numbers of Bikers involved they all rode in a very considerate manner to other road users. I didn't realise how many differnt types and personal decorations one is able to get in the motor cycle world. Our builder who lives in Sidmouth is a biker. I kept expecting to meet him there. I didn't realise just how big an event it was until I checked the web. http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/Continental-Run-Info.aspx

http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/Reunion.aspx

I then enjoyed a quiet night in the hotel watching tv, reading and checking emails. I slept like a log for over 8 hours.

Home Sweet Home

Yes - after just a few short days away it feels good to be back. 'Home Sweet Home' it is. London and Surrey were crowded, grey, polluted, noisy, with graffiti everywhere and was full of 'buzz'. It was exciting for a while. I goggled bug eyed at all the goodies in the stores, like the country yokel I am. I smiled at every foreigner I saw in the hope that if they were a terroist they would choose not to explode while standing next to me. I bought a copy of the Big Issue at £1.50. Last time I did that it cost a £1. We don't get many Big Issue sellers in east Devon. On Saturday I drove through crowds of Christmas shoppers to get home before the threatend gales forecast for Sunday. The rain was so heavy I rarely managed more than 50 mph. I started to enjoy the drive after Stonehenge. The traffic was less dense the more I drove west. The journey took 2 hours longer than usual, 6 hours on the road. I drove through gusting winds and floods, the roads were like rivers. The biggest deepest flood to ford was on the brow of a hill! But oh the greenery and the wide open spaces. I could feel the fresh air and my eyes widened at the sight of so much 'well kept' green space. In the south east the green spaces appear ungrazed and unkempt. Scrub land. Give me farmland anytime. It's good to be back.

Women Drivers

I've just been reading blog posting on Scale and Proportion - where AMKT mentioned spatial awareness and the male v female driver competition " the rare occasions they are better at something than we are ............. ..... women having no spatial awareness." I take issue with this. I don't think men are better drivers than women. I would challenge a male any day. They may be more aggressive, more impatient and like to drive faster. They often overtake despite my driving up to the speed limit. But we all end up at the traffic lights or the next roundabout together. And I with my slower more consistent, considerate pace cruise up to the junction just as the gap in the traffic is clear and am able to sail on majestically while the male road hog is still busy engaging the right gear to shoot across the junction very FAST.




I can and do park perfectly - right in the middle of the white lines in car parks - facing forward ready to leave. Able to drive off immediately the engine has fired. When reversing I have to use both wing mirrors only as I have a stiff inflexible neck/back so am unable to twist around in that macho male way with my arm gripping the passenger seat head restraint while reversing. In fact I have been congratulated on my precision at parking. Sometimes by a male driver - so they can't all be boorish road hogs I admit. When driving down roads with cars parked on either side other drivers sit and wait for me to manoeuvre around them - so obviously they don't trust their spacial awareness. 9 times out of 10 they are male drivers sitting there hugging the left kerb as tightly as possible with a space large enoughto be able to drive a bus through.

As I said I have stiff neck and back. This probably from the number of accidents I have endured at the hands of male drivers. Each time I've been blame free. Honestly. Twice by lorry drivers. Three times I've been hit from behind. The most recent (18 months ago) while I was stationary waiting for a gap in the oncoming traffic before I could turn right off the road. The conditions were wet and slippery. The driver told me "I'm a professional driver" and "have you seen the condition of the roads today?" - well yes I have - but I stopped in time and although I had to sit there waiting for a gap before I could move for several minutes on a clear stretch of road, he assumed he could stop in time but he couldn't and didn't. So his spatial awareness was well and truly up the creek. Along with his judgement on a suitable speed according to the conditions of the wet, greasy road. I wished I'd reported him for driving without due care and attention. A witness wanted to call the police. But although shaken I felt OK at the time so didn't think it necessary. I just hope he learnt his lesson. I still have stiff neck and shoulders from the whiplash after this latest event. My car was off the road for 3 months. I had to screw up my courage to do the journey in April. I crawl along behind lorries for mile after mile as I now longer trust them behind me.

Before that accident I'd been shunted from the rear twice on separate occasions. At roundabouts. Neither man could stop in time. I didn't hit the fool in front [MALE] who suddenly stopped - so why couldn't they behind me?! They were obviously driving far too close to me for either their ability to react or their car's brakes to cope. I'm thinking of getting a 4x4 with BIG wheels and bull bars in future.


Male drivers often take up the point that the car manufacturer's miles per gallon or miles per litre - do not reflect real driving conditions. I expect the figures are taken after a female test driver has put the car through it's paces. So I take the figures as gospel.

The other day we had to stop suddenly at a mini roundabout. Full of paranoia and guilt I looked in my rear view mirror. I'm not sure who tooted who - or why. The young man in front assumed it was me and shot across the white painted island.He started to wave his fist at me out his window. There was no way I could respond. He carried on gesticulating wildly. At one point practically hanging out of the driver's window as he went around the next roundabout giving me lovely two fingered gestures that had nothing to do with Victory. It made me giggle which enraged him even more. When we came to a parting of our way I blew him a kiss. I don't think he appreciated it. If he carries on like that he'll have aheart attack before he's 30.

Holiday - Experiences to Remember

So - what did I get up to while away for 2 weeks in the big, scary south east of England?

1. I took [or rather,was taken by] a shopping trolley up to the 2nd floor on a travelator in a Tesco superstore - scary . I was so sure I was going to topple backwards I rode the mountainous travelling belt behind my trolley with my legs braced - one foot several yards behind the other - as if scaling Everest. I thought that one should try and walk up like climbing stairs on an escalator - not realising the trolley was firmly held in place till the end of the ride. My sister was openly amused but she may not have found it so funny if she'd read about the accidents that can happen. Going down had a different challenge - I felt obliged to canter as I exited the belt. Who needs a fair ground ride?
2. I had a chance to play bowls on a Wii where I scored 9 out of 10 strikes and also tried my hand at boxing which was a bit more of a vigorous work out.
3. Saw all my family and friends
4. Walked in woods full of bluebells
5. Explored Southwold Pier and the amusements
6. Found 2 clematis - which I have to add to our collection - in a lovely nursery in Suffolk
7. Caught a cold in Suffolk , took it back to Surrey and am currently spreading it around Devon.
8. And finally, something very important which I almost forgot, I discovered Molton Brown liquid hand wash and hand lotion. I just have to source a supplier in the West country now.

Hit the Road 4 a 2 week Break Away

Well - this is it. I'm off at the crack of dawn tomorrow - well, about 9.00 a.m that is. The car is so loaded down: - almost my entire wardrobe - hot weather clothes and wet weather clothes and jumpers have now been added to the pile as we seem to have returned to chilly Spring mode. And I've so many gifts and presents/bottles of wine and recycled magazines/books/CDs plants etc etc. I have everything packed in there bar the kitchen sink - I think the view from the front windscreen may be skywards rather than of the road ahead. My Man thinks I may be leaving home for good. I reassured him that is not the case. I'd be more subtle. I'd get him a gift of a luxury break away. Wave him off for a couple of days and change the locks while he's gone.

Route March Preparations

I'm putting off doing the ironing. The ironing basket is full. But this time I can't just recycle it through the wash machine again as I need some of the shirts in there to go away with at the weekend. I've made a list and a list of the lists of' things to do' in preparation for being away for a couple of weeks. I have had the car serviced, MOTed and taxed. I need to launder the car too - it's far to rural to go up to smart town places. Besides I can't see out of the windows properly. I've just been online to AA Route finder - I've just printed off my routes :

1. from here to there,
2. and from there to there there
3. and from there there to there there there and back again
4. then finally the last route - from there there to here.