Sunday and a tale of jumped up security services

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOE AND TEAM....we are all now part of a BAFTA award winning site.

Part One - A kind of rant

This morning, we received a phonecall from Corin's parents to say that they were around the corner, mooching and taking photos of wild mushrooms. Shortly afterwards, I was stood outside the front door of our house and heard what sounded like quite a stroppy announcement coming over a tannoy system. It is not unusual to hear a tannoy, as we have a railway station very nearby and a large shopping centre, and if the wind is in the correct direction then we know exactly what train is going to arrive or which member of staff needs to go to the checkouts.

Shortly afterwards, Corin informed me that his parents were in trouble. Puzzled, I question why - "Did you not hear the tannoy announcement" he says..."Yes I did but I didn't hear the details". It transpires that the announcement was from a security person, shouting over the tannoy that P & L were parked on private property and were breaking the law, and that they had to ring the security service immediately otherwise the police would be called. My father in law to be, with his wicked sense of humour, turned round an waved at the camera, and then asked for the phone number!

They had parked on an EMPTY car park of the suite of offices at the back of our house. It IS private property. So they were being naughty, technically. But REALLY. Common sense?!?! They had simply parked the car, briefly, on an empty car park, so that they could walk less than a hundred yards away to take photos of flora and fauna. They could have parked on the main road, which has recently had double yellow lines painted on it, caused potentially some chaos by making buses go round them, but nobody would have challenged them as our main road is rarely policed. What good can come of threatening perfectly innocent people with the police for parking briefly on an empty car park?

Subsequently we have found out from a neighbour that when she walks her dog, if she crosses the car-park in question, she gets barked at over the tannoy system. This is the same car park that James and I sometimes go to ride our bikes around when there is no-one there, as it is safe and off-road. Looks like that plan is scuppered.

We think that the poor security person sits pretty much doing nothing all day, and we imagined that she rubbed her hands with glee when Pete and Liz parked up...probably the most exciting thing she did all day?

Part 2 - In other news....:

The letter of application has been written, and then re-drafted. I think it is ready to go - I am definitely happy with it, and writing it has consolidated my desire for the job. I am awaiting some feedback from someone who's opinion I value. Then, I'll send it off.

The house has been tidied, the washing machine run through on a full hot cycle with soda crystals (works wonders for flushing the machine out and getting rid of soap build-up), the 4th load of laundry of the weekend has been done, tea cooked for me, Corin, James and Jack and I have managed to squeeze in a trip to Asda and some reading for work. Oh, and the packed lunches are ready for tomorrow, and I am running full system clean on my desktop computer upstairs!

So I took this photo as I sat down at 7.30 to finish watching James' May's Toy Stories - creating a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show completely out of plasticine (wonderful - if you didn't see it, watch it online). Candles, cup of tea (cup and saucer - tastes better), a couple of cantucci biscuits from Carluccio's and my book for when the programme finishes and James scoots off to bed. (I've read Enigma, half way through Archangel - have read them both before, about 10 years ago - I love re-reading books and recognising the story but not quite remembering the details, so there still being revelations!)

Thanks for comments and well wishes for James yesterday - must have been overtired - he slept right through from 3pm to about 9am today and then he was up and at them like there was no issue at all!!!
Chill out time
xxx