The Dangers Of Shopping

Do you want to know what the most dangerous activity in the world is ? One that could stop your heart beating in a second or you seeing your life flashing before you.

You'd possibly think being surrounded by sharks , granted this is not going to happen to you when you are shopping in Morrisons but then again the reduced aisle is fraught with danger.

Shopping is dangerous alright not in a supermarket perhaps not unless you are doing battle with the blessed self service till. Those things are are a blog post in themselves: true story I used one once and after I had grey hair.

I'm taking about online auction sites saviours and frustrating at the same time, I only wanted a brown Zatchel not much to ask. I had been following one and it was within my clutches it was but a knats whisper away until, tragedy struck.

Some one sniped me , I immediately cursed the unknown sniper on Twitter for a woe shared by one halved.

Here is the curse which I really think I'll be trademarking.

@needaphone "Curses being foiled in an ebay bid ... May a panda sit on your head” 

Then I thought right I'll try again my budget was to pay no more that £24.99 so I duly found another Zatchel and placed another bid.

What could possibly go wrong?!

Well instead of entering £24.99 I entered 

£2449

I tell you it was a hairy fairy moment, luckily I managed to cancel my bid!

Can you imagine me explaining that to my husband ?

So I Claire do hereby promise to leave auction shopping alone for a bit, anyway I must go my 5 ft free railway sleeper is here from of those free sites where people give stuff away or ask for stuff.

Luxor The Jewel of The Magical Nile

I have always had the spirit of adventure , wishing to visit as much of the world as I can with my family , I quite happily be a roving travel reporter. There is a romance about travelling and long are the associations with love and where you travel to, how I would love to be in India with the colour , vibrancy and the mystery of the mystery . Hot Indian summers with a nod to colonial pasts and the melting pots of religion , I would love to see the Taj Mahal the ultimate act of devotion to the one that you love. I would in a heat beat go back to Luxor and stop along side the Nile you can not have failed to have been captured by Levison Woods programme where he walked the entire length of the Nile, if you haven't see this then it is a must to see this monumental achievement. I am pretty confident that you can still get it on Iplayer and I am sure the DVD will be out if it isn't already and must certainly the book is out.

Too adventure is to live , that is just how I am wired and I always wanted to be an Egyptologist or an archaeologist , I remember once going to a heroes and rogues book party at the local and I was made encouraged to go as a pirate , I would have gone as the never fearing ( except of snakes ) Indiana Jones. I did ditch my eye patch once I go to the party and quickly made my self into a archaeological superhero  well I have to safe to my adventuring.

Luxor the heat , the dusty sand haze the hot melting colours that dance upon the Nile , it is no wonder that Agatha Christie came to Egypt to write Death on the Nile , that is one thing I haven't experienced (a trip won the Nile) The hotel at wish we stayed in Luxor was the Sonnesta St George and it was smack bang on the Nile and you could see the Nile cruises coming in and out.

The Sonesta St. George was an ideal base for us to as the Nile was just a whisper away , the hotel was tripping in Opulent polished marble and you felt in its presence both luxurious and sophisticated. Every amenity is available for the discerning traveller and what I found quirky was at breakfast an egg station was available ! It does spoil oneself as when you get to the UK as you breathe a little sigh of the luxury you had on your Egyptian holiday. The temples of Luxor and Karnak are preserved in time but some of the pictures may leave you blushing, to experience a city of fascinating antiquity and indulgence of the senses then you need the splendour of Luxor.

Karnak was built over thirteen hundred years and there is so much to see in the temples I think it would take all my lifetime to see it and then some, the Temple of Karnak is known as Ipet-Isut (Most Perfect of Places) And when I say it would take my lifetime to explore I am not joking as the site covers some 100 acres. For well over 1,500 years it was the most religious and intellectual catalyst in Egypt.

For us Luxor was at the end of holiday after the chaos of Cairo it was soothing which is a strange thing to say for Egypt as it is full of hustle , bustle and haggling ( ooh the haggling may well sent you  round the pyramids as a firm polite no just won't suffice , in the end on one occasion I just dropped the stuff they gave me on the desert floor and walked off , they got the message that way)

Oh to watch the Egyptian feluccas sailing down the Nile on a warm , hot summers evening kicking back with a cocktail in one hand while the glow of the sun melts down from the Egytian sky.

The Write Of The Love Struck

I had a rollerball in my hip youth school days firmly fixed either onto my school tie or my bottle green jumper, they say as you very well know that the pen is mighty than the sword and it's true . When you write you feel the words and a pen shouldn't be confined the lid should come off and the words released.

The new Lamy pen is my joy and with it I wrote into my note book , I'll need another note book when this one is filled up , I am a tad frugal as I have Washington DC to pay off , in this note book I wrote


"How wonderful is the correlation of the pen connecting with the written word. The words just flow off the pen and errors mistakes made are irrelevant in the scheme of all things. Too often we chase what we perceive to be be our infections. This is my first outing with my new rollerball and we are in their giddy imitate stage of young love"

The young love featured the Lamy Tipo Aluminium Rollerball is from Bureau Direct and I am wholly in love with their site.

Disclosure I brought the pen with my own fair hard earned cash , also I've just had a Kt Kat chunky and I am most indubitably racked with Shakespearean guilt.

Purrfectbox Review By Jack Black The Cat

The human bean told me package would be coming for me , as I'm cat I've not concept of time , so I waited 

And waited 

And waited

Had a sulk and a huff.

Today Mr Postman is it for me ?

Then those awfully nice folk at Purrfectbox decided to send me a package( I've been told to point out the wait time wasn't actually that long but I'm a cat what do I know , I've not told the Grey one , currently he is in search of his soul.

Yay a box !

But wait it is full of goodies that I'm not sharing not now not ever !

The contents of the box vary each month in January's box :

Yes there was a Wasabycat wooden scratching block there and I was warned over my use of catnip as last time I got my claws on a bag of catnip I went and I quote ' jolly well squiffy ' but as this was in a block I would be just fine as the catnip was sprinkled in between the slats ~ the block is awesome dude.

There was a couple of toys in there I was particularly fond of the catnip horsey , least my human bean won't shreek when going into the kitchen bare footed thinking they've trod in a real mouse when it's just a realistic toy one. Then they moan when I do bring a real one in , see what I've got to work with here people a human bean with double standards. The other one was from Flamingo cat toys, which is was a toy on a piece of elastic string , in time honoured tradition I played with the string.

I had the sachet and was made to share begrudgingly the tin of Tuna cat food from Schesir. We liked it so much we were fussy and went off our regular cat food , well it is in the job description of us cats in really really small print.

 Avanti crunchy cat treats were literally a dream as they have cat nip in them , I like cat nip (floats off for a moment)

The  Sanicat Professional Aloe Vera Wash Mitts  not were an interesting inclusion , apparently my human bean says you can get cat shampoo ( inserts manic cat meowing) as cats  like having a bath... not one little bit! but I have to say the mitts are a very pawsome alternative.

SO if your human bean likes treating me  us, you , then they should get your handy mitts  on a Purrfectbox monthly goody box for your cat subscription, for just £19.90 (inc. delivery) The price does come down if you subscribe for a half a year(£17.90 per month inc .delivery) or a year (£15.90 per month inc delivery)

Cat disclosure : My human bean was sent this for me us to review and we loved it , I ( Jack ) am getting help with my catnip addiction.

Crossing Bridges In The woods : Gallery Cold

The bridge over the stream into the woods.

Happiness is achieved by pushing yourself beyond its mental limits , yes it blooming freezing and when venturing into the woods I'm half expecting to meet Mr Timnus by the lamppost , or see the ice queen sleek by in her silvery sledge.

Pushing forward when you are on your own you hear sounds like a non ghost version of moaning myrtle , I could only get so far as I only had my walking boots on and I haven't got any wellies. It look jolly good squelchy , squelchy mud as well.

The woods are also the local nature reserve , it is known as the brick works and was once would you believe it the centre of the medieval world for alabaster , warmer climates the alabaster is ideal outside but in the damp climates of England the uses are mostly inside.

Life provides many opportunities , your lifetime opportunity could come only once and whilst many opportunities would be nice , life doesn’t roll the dice like that. How your use your opportunity can affect other lives so much like ripples radiating out. Have I had my time ? I really don’t know I will live my life to the fullest and that is the best I can do.

A kindness doesn’t have to be justified , I took a colleague and friend to lunch and when asked why I simply said

“Just because it is nice to be kind”

Social kindness and nicest is not complicated like Atticus Finch you can learn a life lesson , our lives and souls are entwined with each other.

Entwined branches.

I am so much happier now I can get outside more after being ill at Christmas , I can't tell you how frustrated I am not seeing the sky and trees and the ever-changing canvas nature is, ooh and the bird song, if only Mr Robin would stop still for a a picture then life would be complete.


Eveytime I go to the woods I see something different , and I think one week I will have a winter picnic there ! Step up to life it is not going away !

The steps up to the magical woods.

I have had to cross many bridges to get where I am that is not to say there won't be sad times but I tell you what I won't be told when and when I can be sad but I am to polite to tell folk to go forth , I would rather use my energy and get and relax , they will figure they said a bad or hurtful thing the cosmos will twang their soul. I know I get a twang on my soul if I do something wrong and if I didn't make mistakes I wouldn't be human now would I .

The woodland bridge over the stream.