Holiday relaxations

There are not many things quite as relaxing as lying on a sun lounger with clear blue sky above you, feeling the heat of the sun while listening to the gentle waves, oh and with an ice cold drink and a not-too-taxing novel. I don't really like getting wet (except when having a long bath), or walking in the sand (I blame the parents! I was never allowed in sand pits as a child as cats and dogs did dirities in them!). However, next to the hotel pool does me fine. Next to another hotel's pool may be even better, but that's for another day.

I wasn't planning on doing much all holiday so I took myself off to the Bury Hospice shop in Ramsbottom and bought 5 chick-lits for £1 each - plenty for my holidays. I started the first one on the plane going:

Number Ten - Sue Townsend. I didn't read the back in the shop, I just knew Adrian Mole used to make me laugh. What a great book, about the Prime Minister going around the not best places in the country dressed as a woman.

The One You Really Want - Jill Mansell. A typical happy ending story, that you can more or less work out from the first 10 pages! It kept me daydreaming though.

It's Now or Never - Carole Matthews. I loved this but again there is nothing to it. A happy-ish ending and easy to read. Well.....I am on my holidays! I can leave the War and Peaces of the world until I'm back at the 'W' place.

Once in a Lifetime - Cathy Kelly - I didn't think I'd like this but I started it last night before going to bed and I have hardly put it down since. I have just finished it and it and far from being a totally rubbish girlie book it was amazing and made me cry.                     

And now I have just one left, on day 8.

A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon. It is about a man settling down for retirement and a lot of family stuff. I'm torn between starting it today though or saving it as I have lots more time before I go home. I'm only Internetting now as the men in my life are getting showered etc and they take long than me to make themselves presentable.

A strange thing happened to me the other night, which I'm still getting stick for. I had mt iPhone alarm set as we were going off to the volcano and none of us are good at waking up early. It went off and we got up and dressed. I couldn't make out how sunny it was (it has never been less that 'very sunny' though) as it was still dark. It took quite a while for me to realise that perhaps it should be daylight. During the night my iPhone had changed times. Now it doesn't need the time setting, even when you change timezones, as Apple knows exactly where it is and sorts all that type of stuff out. I checked the world clock and it knew that the Canary Islands was the same time as the UK. I can only think that my phone is convinced it is in Spain. I'd been here 5 days before it changed though so I have no idea why it suddenly felt the need to confuse me. I am a bit paranoid now though. What if it changes time the night before we go home, and we miss our plane. Now that would be a shame....

Well, I'd better see what the rest of The Kelly Family are up to. We are off to eat in Playa Blanca tonight as our taste buds have forgotten what real food tastes like. To be fair, all the reviews for this hotel didn't rate the food too much so it haven't been a surprise. We just wanted to know H could eat.

I'm off to enjoy then my final 2 full days relaxation before I have to start counting down the days until the next holiday. Paul is taken with the Canaries and wants to come back (hooray).

Sorry - no photos this time; the hotel Internet isn't that good.

Flabelos

The TWIGs tree

Not many weeks ago I wrote about the things we do (or I do...) for the sake of our appearance. I've had another appointment at the torture chamber, and it wasn't that bad really. I booked to go again in another 4 weeks so I wouldn't chicken out.
Well, just over 3 weeks ago I decided I'd have a lunchtime walk up the Kirklees Trail. I'd been sat at my desk too long and needed some fresh air. I decided to walk back the road way, and I noticed that the post office in Greenmount had changed into some sort of salon. There was a poster up about fake tans, sunbeds, false nails etc, and unfortunately something caught my eye. 'Lose a dress size in 3 weeks....". I know I'm a big sucker but I thought I'd pop in and see what it was all about. 'Flabelos' is a new concept of an old idea (apparently...I'll believe anything). I was told that I could stand on a machine for 10 minutes most days, and in 3 weeks I'd be a dress size smaller. I was told stories of people who couldn't even consider doing up their jeans, yet 2 weeks into a flabelos programme they didn't even have to breathe in. 10 minutes is the equivalent of an hour in the gym. I had nothing to lose, and as luck would have it, the machine was available for me to have my free taster session.

The machine looks like those scales you get weighed on in Boots. You stand on a metal plate with your feet as far apart as they will go and your knees slightly bent. You then hold onto a bar for dear life and press 'start'. I was warned I may feel a bit strange and if I got a stitch, which wasn't uncommon, I should bend my knees more. The owner of the shop (Tan and Tone in Greenmount) stayed with me while the machine set off, then left me to it. It was the weirdest experience. Your whole body wobbles, and after 2 minutes it speeds up. There are 2 more speed ups before it slows down for 2 minutes at the end. You aren't half thrown about for 10 minutes. You don't realise how much you are vibrating until you look down, and your flesh is flying about in all directions (OK, mine was. I suppose not everyone has quite as much). I had strange sensations in my legs and body, and I had to keep checking that I hadn't wet myself as it really felt as though I could have done! The best way to describe it is this. Have you used one of those new Dyson hand dryers? They are bright yellow and in some public toilets. You put your hands slowly into the top, withdraw, then do it again. The skin on your hand looks like it is going to be transformed in some strange Dr Who like experience as it is being sucked, or blown so strongly. Now imagine putting your whole body into one! It feels very odd.

After 10 minutes of me clinging on it stopped, and I meandered back to the reception desk, complete with my sea legs. I was a bit wobbly getting home, but this promise of an easy tone-up was on my mind. I went again the next day and signed up for a months course. Unfortunately I was going away in 3 weeks and a couple of days, so I had to squeeze in the sessions. I kept it up, and whenever I went out in the car I would call in for my daily wobble. Amazingly after just over a week I noticed that some trousers I wear for work did up much more easily.

Here I am 3 weeks and 2 days later, and what have a lost? Thirty pounds is what I have lost. Thirty whole pounds....Great British Pounds Stirling I'm afraid. To be fair, there was never any mention of weight loss. The promise was just a tone up. Well the measurements are in and I've lost 2 inches off my waist,  1.5 inches off my hips, 1.5 inches off my bust and an incredible half an inch  off my thighs. There isn't a noticeable difference, but trousers are looser, so it hasn't been a complete waste of time. In fact, I've quite enjoyed it. I think if I had cut down on food, as they advised, it may have made more of a difference! As far as new experiences go, it is one that's worth a try, even if you just go for a free test. I managed to take a video on my phone, so turn up the volume and see what you think.

Our Twiglets had a great time at the Tottington Wildlife Watch Group last weekend. It was 'Adopt a Tree' day and although we got a few complaints about going outside tree hugging, as soon as we were outside they were running about deciding what tree they wanted. We decided the best tree on our field could be the TWIGs tree, and the Twiglets could choose another each, so they can observe it and the way it changes throughout the year. I've sorted out Twitter and Facebook so we are on each. On Facebook just search for Tottington Wildlife Watch Group, and on Twitter we are @TottingtonWIGS. Please follow us.....we are trying to spread the work!

Save our Libraries

We've had a very busy fortnight with one thing and another, and there are lots of events coming up too.

TWIGS (Tottington Wildlife Watch Group) received word that we had been successful in our The Rock Bursary Scheme application. We had put in a bid for £1000 so that amongst other things we could buy wildlife cameras to keep an eye on what is going on while our Twiglets (and us) are tucked up in bed. We are also hoping to buy other equipment and protective clothing, and perhaps get ourselves an 'identity' logo. Laurie Sage from Laurie Pink designs has even drawn a prototype logo badge, so I'm hoping that will take off. On Friday Alan Turner (another TWIGs leader) and I went to the presentation at Barista along with the other successfulapplicants where we received our certificate. The money is now safely in the bank, and we need to plan the finer details. Our children will benefit greatly, and we are very grateful to The Rock for supporting us. Well over 100 groups applied for a bursary and there was only £20,000 given out so we have been very lucky.The Rock will be repeating the scheme next year and they will be kept informed on how the funding has benefited the organisations.

I did a walk around on Thursday with one of the Police Community Support Officers. We had 2 other 'pairs' out as well in the pouring rain so we could see as many people as we could. We went door knocking to see how the people in our little bit of Tottington were and if they had anything they needed to discuss under the umbrella of 'Home Watch'. Hardly anyone had any issues which was great to hear. We were also sounding people out about the forming of 'The Friends of Rhine Close' to develop more community spirit. Most people were interested in being involved in some way so we need to get on with it. The Local Area Partnership has grants available to local groups and we are hoping to apply before the deadline of the beginning of March so that we can do a tidy up at one end of our close. We have enough volunteers to dig up the brambles etc, but some funding will enable us to buy some plants or trees to really brighten up this forgotten patch.

Tottington library







Our pile of books

Today is the Save Our Libraries national campaign. I'm very proud of my dad who went along to take part in the protest rally outside Bolton library. He has reached 70 without getting into any bother so he was hoping today wasn't be the day he ended up getting arrested. I've seen the photo in the BEN and couldn't pick him out but I'm sure he'll have been there. We didn't play quite as big a part in the campaign, but we did go along to our local Tottington library and we all took out the maximum number of books that we could. The idea was that if everyone did the same the shelves would be bare. I was surprised how busy Tottington library was on a cold wet Saturday morning. We spent an hour there reading the papers and filling in questionnaires in the hope of stopping some of the cuts. It is missing a coffee machine really. We then struggled home with our 32 books, that we'll be able to take back next week. Seriously though, it will have done us good. I have 'Twitter for Dummies' so I'm hoping to 'get it' a bit more and be able to pass handy hints onto @HaleGC!

Incredible Edibles Tottington has also been incepted this week. This is a Guerrilla Gardening community gardening group that will look at utilising small patches of unused land to grow food that the community can then help itself to. TWIGs will be starting the project with a couple of pieces of land that the council have said we can use. Allotments are in such high demand and lots of people would like to involved in small scale growing so this, if it takes off, will be ideal. There is a group in Ramsbottom that has been very successful, and they have even taken over an orchard. Diggle Lane Allotment Association (who were also successful in their Rock Bursary Scheme application) have been kind enough to let us use one of their greenhouses to start off plants before planting them outside, and they have said we can use their meeting room too if needed. Our hope is that if we can get a lot of support and get the children and schools involved the things we grow will be left alone and used appropriately, not dug up by young people who don't have enough to do in the evenings. All we can do is try, and I'm really looking forward to eating some produce grown in the village.

Lastly, it hasn't been ALL work. We had lunch at The Chocolate Cafe in Ramsbottom. This was absolutely gorgeous. If you don't already, follow them on Twitter @welovechocolate and you will get the Buy One Get One Free vouchers. It isn't cheap, but I think the offer is on throughout February so it is lovely for a treat.

Cloud 23 cocktails

We should have been going to Scotland this weekend, but decided against it due to the severe weather warning, floods, gale force winds etc. Instead, we managed a last minute sneaky night out in Manchester last night to celebrate us being married for 10 years. First stop was The Hilton Cloud 23 for cocktails, then The Marble Arch on Rochdale Road for some unusual real ales. Both are well worth a visit. The Hilton has to be for treats only, but The Marble Arch is great for a cheap night out and it does good food too.

 

Beer at The Marble Arch