Sixty at Last

Hello everybody

Well I have finally got to 60, it doesent seem to of made any difference yet, in fact on the day I only recieved one card in the post, but got a text from my son & grand daughters who will soon arrive for the party.
Later went to shopmobility & was presented with a cake & cards, so felt a little better. When I got home there were birthday wishes from some of my new friends from the message board.

As an anti climax I spent the afternoon at the hospital trying to sort out progress re his discharge.

This morning no cards before I left, but good friend rang about other matters, I thought eventually he would say why he had not been in touch, he did he had been walking in Derbyshire, I felt the need to ask him if he knew what day it was yesterday, Tuesday he said, my birthday said I, he was mortified.

Well went to work & entered our office I had decide that there would be a suprise party at lunch time for me because after all I was 60, I entered our office to the sound of party poppers & "happy birthday" my collegues had come through, the office had been decorated with balloons etc & I was presented with a posh new watch.

Sadly later I was then presented with a huge chocolate fudge cake, how did they know I cant resist this, we took some photos & I e mailed them but they have got lost so will have to post them later.

Came home, another card but where are the rest, hopefully they are going to arrive at my birthday party, if not I have judged the number of my friends very poorly & will not have another party for at least another 10 years when I have got my act together.

Having said that I going out next week for a joint celebration of my birthday & a friends pregnancy, just hope she does not get to excited & have the baby there, I wonder if I could insist that baby be in fancy dress.

Only 5 More Days To Go

Hi Everybody

Well only the music to sort out now, for the event, plus the the boredom when everyone finally sees the costume, there was me thinking it was a famous musical & when I checked it wasent even in the top 100.

I have just discovered Flickr so when its all over I will upload some of the photos so you can see whether it was all worth while.

As you will all be aware today was fathers day, sadly through circumstance apart from a conversation over the net I was unable to spend the day with any family, maybe next year it will get better, having said that there are other friends who have much greater problems than I

Nearly time for My 60th

Well everybody, I am nearly ready for my birthday, most people have now confirmed whether they are coming, sadly some will be unable to attend, so we will have to make some other arrangements.

My costume is sorted out & I have been cleverer than I thought & found it is quite topical at present.

Not satisfied with one party I am now exploring one at work for all those that can not go to the main event.

Besides this last week I was the official photographer for the local carnival, we had the famous Fred Flintstone & his beautiful wife Wilma as special guests , the only problem was his car being so old it stopped working quite quickly and needed people power to keep it going.

I have just arranged a trip to the Isle of Man with a friend in July, last time I was there it took 8 hours each way and we had 2 hours to see all the sights, so this time it will be for a week and hopefully I will see all the beautiful scenary.

When all this is over I then have to sort out a scooter rally & the next concert fund raisers, just reading through all this I am now feeling quite exausted.

June is busting out all over

6 June 2007

Good evening all you readers, sorry I have been quiet again but it seems to have been very busy in life at the moment.

At present the local Metro is not working very far & there is a link bus service in operation, to do 10 miles it took nearly two hours this morning.

I have just started to use speech recognition at work, hopefully soon I will be dictating at some great rate rather than making my hands worse than they are.

Well we are now very close to my birthday, but unforunatly some have still not replied so we will wait & see who turns up & how they will be dressed.

The forum I have joined in relation to my ME is proving to be very interesting & helpful, it has helped inspire me in relation to costumes for the party, for myself & others, but also has given me a greater insight into how difficult it is for others with ME just to get through the day.

Sadly yet again despite all my promises I have become hooked by Big Brother, the worst bit is to find out the twins are social work students, I just hope eventually they practice some of their training on the other housemates.

Some More New Adventures Of A Happy Togg

19 May 2007

Well hello all you readers, sorry I have not been in touch for a while but I have been really busy with other things.

Firstly it is now a month to my birthday, but a few extra to my party, so I have sent off most of the invitations & Zorro has already confirmed he had recieved his. I am quite sorry that Hamster cannot make it but after all it is a long way for him to come for one night.

It took me ages to sort out the invitations & I am very grateful to AMO for all her hard work

on the cards. I am sure you are all in agreement about this, thanks again AMO, you will go to the party.

The other thing that I have done is to join in with the local ME group forum, sorry I most probably have not told those of you that do not know that, I have had this condition for at least 15 years.

It has been an interesting experiance, both happy & sad, some people are coping in a very positive way as far as i can see, but sadly & maybe with some good reason others are very angry about the condition & their life since ME.

Tomorrow I am going to see a couple of choirs with Brian, so hopefully will report back to you all.

Back Safe & Sound from Scarborough

8 May 2007

Hello again readers, as you may remember the plan was to trip off to Scarborough this bank holiday.well Brian & I got there saterday morning, despite weather reports the weather was mild & even better no rain, but on the front it was quite windy.

The accomodation was pleasant & there was even a teddy to stop us feeling lonely in the bedroom & the landlady was very pleasant & welcoming so after unpacking we went to the Spa & looked in on a piano accordian competition which was taking place with free admission, so in we went, immediately Brian found £15 which because there were young children there we worried that it could of been one of them that had lost it.

It was agreed that I would take it to the judges to hold in case the owner turned up so, I explained this to them & that we were not trying to bribe them. We then sat & egerly waited for the event that took nearly half an hour. Finally the young children came on, played a tune quite well then left. Because it was nice & warm we decided to wait another half hour & finally another group of children arrived played the same piece then left, we decided this was the time to go.

We then wandered round the town taking photos then went to my favourite chippy for Brian to try their fish & chips & for me to try the sticky toffee pudding with custard, which as usual was really enjoyable.

My back started to ache so off to the digs I went for a lie down whilst Brian continued to to explore, & we met later early evening to take photos of the beautiful sunset, the only problem was it was nearly an hour before we finally got the photos, what do you think of my effort. Sadly as on my last holiday I had started with blisters on my feet which I feel I will suffer from for the next few weeks.

The following day we went off to Cayton Bay which I had memories of from over 20 years ago, suprise suprise it was still as quiet & beautiful as I remembered. It is strange how we travel abroad when there are lovely beaches over here deserted. For a change we spent a fair bit of time taking photos then exploring the rock pools for sea life.

Eventualy as usual I became tired so we made our way back to Scarborough & back to the digs for me to have a lie down for a few hours. In the evening we went up to the castle for some more interesting sunsets which I hope you will agree were worth the effort.

On our last day we went to Peasholme Park looking for dragons, spending a really pleasant few hours there, as did many other people. I was pleasantly suprised at how many young families were content just to feed the squirrels & go on the pedalos as a family with no blasting out of loud music or drunken yobs, ( I realise I am really becoming a Grumpy old Tog) but it wa a beautifully laid out park with interesting little suprises round corners, well done Scarborough. By the way if you are very quiet & look closely you will see one of the heroes of this post above & if you are very quiet yo will see the shy dragons gathering together

Finally it was time to go back so before we left I went to buy some of my favourite cakes ( Little Jacks) Brian said they are just flat scones, but finally off we set, I fell asleep but when I woke up Brian was kind enough to say he had seen a whole new side to me, I did not talk in my sleep so it is possible for me not to speak for an hour.

When we got back the Mero service was suspended so it was nearly another hour, then when we got to the bus station guess what the bus had just gone, so I decided blow the expense so I finally got home at nine thirty at night.

We are off on our next adventure, Scarbourough here we come

3 May 2007

Well what about the location of those interesting photos from Hamster, did you guess well just in case it was I wil l let him describe the location

The near bye town where the KFC is located is called BRINCHANG (BURRR-IN-CHANG) and is in the CAMERON HIGHLANDS, West Malaysia. Once again, anyone who has done this excursion from KL will know this place. BT I did not try the KFC as there was a cracking Chinese Coffee Shop less than a block away where the KFC is, and a hundred other places that would leave KFC wanting.... Even if it does come with Rice as the photo shows ;-)

This bank holiday weekend Brian & I are off to Scarborough for a couple of days, I want to try good old fish & chips followed by jam roly poly & custard, then see a show or just relax. As usual we will try to find some interesting photos for the blog

Well readers here we go again, my health seems to be better, but life seems to of become a bit hectic, so Brian & I went to Heaton Park, there were some interesting local animals so these are some of them i managed to photograph.

The first was a strange sort of animal, that I also captured when on holiday earlier this year, maybe it came over for the warm weather. I am told it is quite a shy creature & prefers to hide amongst the undergrowth, I found it impossible to get a front view.

This next photo was of an even rarer beast that I was lucky to catch because it was ill & a vet known locally as a mechanic had come to make it better.

I am told that again it is a local animal not seen outside the area, also that it has a very unusual name & is called the Number 53 tram but that once they roamed all over Manchester, until as usual progress led to the local authority killing them off apart from a few ones that have been cared for.

Through research I have established that luckily these creatures are thriving in other parts of the world & people have managed to harness them as a form of transport.




Finally when I was just finishing I saw this heron that seemed quite happy & oblivious to all the noise from the people visiting the park, it is hard to think this is so close to a major city

At last things seem to be improving

27 April 2007

Hi readers this week seem to of been very busy, my nose bleeds started again, but we seem to have the answer now, the ENT nurse said it is because I am having showers that are to hot & its increasing my blood pressure causing the bleeds, this is a relief because I was getting fed up of getting out of the shower with a nose bleed & no clothes on & then having to seek help.

The problem I have from this is that my osteopath states I cannot have baths so I will have to become a real dirty old man. This is made worse because if I put smelly stuff on to cover body odours they give me headaches, so I will also be a smelly dirty old man.

I went to the GP to sort out my back, she tells me that I have to go through physio, for a month, painkillers & then finally the consultant may!!!!! decide to do something about the problem.

I have finally got permission to have a new computer, which will work with voice recognition, so beware my posts may get longer & more frequent.

AMO is sorting out a design for my birthday invites so these will be going out in the next week or 2, for those of you who are interested I have put another couple of pictures on my other blog they are quite nice & of Prague, have you guessed where the photo at the top is, well its in Luxor Egypt, not bad an amateur I hope this is just another to finish off this post

Another One of Those Rotten Tog Weeks

Well hello all you readers what a week it has been, on Tuesday I went to submit my divorce papers, I thought it would be a complicated process.

In reality all I had to do was take the papers to court, swear on the bible & give my signature twice, to set the end of our marriage in motion, the solicitor told me by the end of next month we will be divorced.

It seems such a shame after so long but maybe it is the only way we can move on.

The following day I started with a simple nose bleed that got worse & worse, & despite my friend Geoff’s best efforts it would not stop so we ended up at A & E at the local hospital, where I spent the day.

I was triaged very quickly but then left to bleed into a bowl for 1 hour until a nice doctor stuck bungs up my nostrils which was very painful, he then informed me that I was being admitted overnight for observation, so I told Geoff & suggested he go home.

Whilst waiting it was interesting to hear about the problems in A & E with capacity it seems they were on code Amber & a waiting list of 2 hours, but other hospitals wanted them to take their excess capacity, & no hospital appeared to be able to have spare capacity.

Despite all this I waited for half an hour for a porter who never came & in the end a staff nurse had to take me to the ward.

It seemed to take for ever to process me on the ward, then finally I saw the doctor at 3.30pm who cauterised my nostrils & said I could go home in half an hour, in actual fact it was another hour.

This was great but I had set friends off to bring me clothes etc in, so then I had to contact them again to cancel it, lets hope it’s a long time before I have another nose bleed.

As you can imagine I got home & was absolutely exhausted by doing nothing all day & have still not yet picked up.

On a happier note I decided to sort out my costume for my birthday, I think I may of finally found something thats even topical, but very warm, the man at the shop said what about Elvis, well what abot Elvis, far to easy.

I also have started to sort out invitations so they may be with you quite soon

Yet another new Blog where will it all end

10 April 2007

Well all you readers I have finally done it despite all the pain I have created my new blog which you can view through the link. http://fastfood-francisthefearless.blogspot.com/

This is despite all the pain I am having at present, mainly because it had to be done.

Have you guessed where the location was, it was in fact in Ronda, in Spain.

Further good news, as you will know I have contacted everybody & already Hamster has offered to take up the challenge & provide some photos from an exotic location.

My friend Kath told me today that she has one of her photos on show at Manchester Art Gallery so to save you the trip I hope to show it on my Blog in the near future, fancy me having such talented friends.

Now for the bad news, it is possible that I may be arranging another concert for Bury Shopmobility & possibly have my first act, so you will have to put up with the ups & downs of this as the year goes on.

Even worse I will shortly be building up to finding my costume for my birthday fancy dress, also Brian & I went to check the building for the venue was still there yesterday, I will be keeping you up to date on progress, as we get nearer.

3 Togs Adventures On The Costa Del Sol

18 March 2007

Today we started on our adventure, first dropped the car off then on to the airport, of course needed to make sure we had passports tickets, luggage labels & luggage,

Got to check-in young lady did new computerised check-in through machine sent us to put luggage in , then person at desk decided to go through all off process again, despite the fact we already had boarding cards.

Went back to first young lady who was equally amazed, but then to security, joined longest queue I had ever seen, but finally we made it, in time to waste lots of time doing nothing whilst waiting for our flight.

Flight okay luckily Brian adjusted very well to the situation, when we arrived in Malaga nice & warm, no problems with baggage, went outside only to find no coach & lots of disgruntled travellers all waiting for the coaches which unfortunately did not come for an hour, worst complaint was lack of information about what was causing the delay.

Got to hotel much better than I thought for price, 2 bedrooms but also 2 bathrooms!!!! They must of thought we were very dirty travellers. Now both tired so both went to bed & left unpacking until morning.

19 March 2007

I woke up early & made the worst decision of the whole holiday that of going out to get water & breakfast provisions, asked at desk & informed by reception supermarket nearby not open until 10.30, so set off to find another.

Saw people with bags of shopping but because I was to stupid did not ask where they got them from, kept on walking ( as the old song tells of Felix the cat, if you remember the song you must be old) finally got to a supermarket but still not properly opened so carried on although legs & feet now aching.

Finally totally exhausted got to Lidl of all places, picked up goods and started walk back, saw bus stop but did not know how to tell them where I was going so carried on.
On the way back passed 3 supermarkets that I had not seen all close to the hotel, but at least we could have breakfast.

Well that was the start of excruciating pain from the blisters on my feet but then again never mind I could relax round the pool for the rest of the week. Not quite it was nice & warm so we went to the welcome party, a load of rubbish, but then decided we would go to Fuengerola, by bus & train.

Bus good , as was the train, Brian practised his skills in Spanish, when we got there this was not the place I remembered , I had forgotten to bring a hat & it was very hot so part of the time was finding a suitable hat for me, we spent some time there but my feet were hurting much worse now, so we made our way back, Later went out for meal & had Spanish omelette, so Brian could have local food. That evening saw on TV that parts of Spain having deep snow what a contrast.

20 March 2007

Early breakfast, still very windy but sunny, feet still very painful, went with Brian to meet Zorro on the train, which worked well, so then travelled to Malaga, where Zorro showed us the local sites including a visit to a local tapas bar, the calamari was the best I have tasted, eventually was time to go back, so we parted agreeing to meet the next day for a paella.

Problem with pain in feet getting worse, so agreed I would return to hotel & Brian would continue exploring. Later Brian cooked our evening meal & we relaxed.


21 March 2007

Sad to say still problems with feet, Brian up early & out, I went to shops then sunbathed on & off for rest of Day. Later Brian returned after trip walking to Fuengerola, this was in time for us to get ready for evening with Zorro again. Met as planned finally we went to farmacia for ointment for feet & plasters, then sought shop for maps for Brian.

Finally went for paella which we all enjoyed, then parted from Zorro, I caught the bus & Brian went for another walk

22 March 2007

Had another relaxing day sunbathing Brian off out on another trip this time to Malaga, in the evening went out for further meal.

23March 2007

Still having problems walking so went sunbathing today, Brian went for walk to local park took photos of various animals & birds, later went evening meal.

24 March 2007

Today went to Ronda for the day by bus, it was an interesting drive up the hairpin bends, a number of motorcyclists roared past, but a little later there were problems because one of the riders had collided with a car, some of the people on the bus must of felt it was the highlight of their trip they were happily taking photos of the scene.
We spent some time taking photos of the various scenes in Ronda.

Then as a special treat we went for a McDonalds which has now given me inspiration to create a new Blog based on Fast Food Joints I & others have visited around the world. Finally it was time to return back to the hotel, we went to our last meal out before our trip back. Tonight the Clocks went forward 1 hour.




25 March 2007

Last day, unfortunately we had to leave the room at 10. 30am so went for a walk with Brian to the park, took series of photos then managed to lose him, eventually made way back to hotel & sunbathed, eventually found Brian & we spent time waiting for coach to airport.

Plane was an hour & half late we all queued patiently but nobody explained why until we boarded the plane, now quite late, eventually landed back home after I had problems with horrible child sat in seat in front whose idea of fun was to bounce on the back of the seat which created problems for me & my spinal pain. When I tried to explain the mother had no sympathy neither did the trolley dolly, until later when the child spilt its food all over their seat.

26 March 2007

Finally got home quite late on Monday morning, I had the presence to of taken the day off so spent most of it sleeping.

Well now have to start serious plans for new Blog & my birthday

I'm Off To Sunny Spain

Well all you readers at long last Brian & I are off to Sunny Spain tomorrow, I fact I am am told by Zorro that it truely is sunny over there despite the fact here they are predicting snow over the weekend.

Therefore I have a last few things to pack, my trusty camera for new photos for the Blog, plus pen & paper to record any exciting incidents that I have whilst over there.

This is despite all the pain from whatever is causing all the problems with my spine, the fact I signed my divorce papers this week ironically the day after it would of been our wedding aniversary, as well as the week after I learnt that in the not to distant future I may not have a job.

On top of this some more of my guests have now told me that they are unable to attend my birthday celebrations, at this rate there will soon be just me.

Francis the Fearless is back

12 March 2007

Well, hello readers sorry I have been so quiet but as you will remember I have been having problems with my spine so it has been hard to sit down on my chair at the computer.

I am now on stronger painkillers so should be able to sit for while, because of this I have been able to make a trip over to Ireland for my daughter's confirmation.

It was nice to see the family again, and a very interesting experience going to the church, unfortunately the priest did not look a happy man, but the Bishop looked like one of those priests from the old American films who you could tell anything. Common sense though states that to have become the Bishop he must have ambition which doesn't fit in with a gentle person.

Whilst I was ill I took a week off work and looked forward to listening to my hero Terry Wogan, unfortunately he decided to go on holiday at this time. I have to say that listening to Johnnie Walker at that time of the morning does not help me to get up or to relax.

I have now seen my osteopath four times and he tells me that I have a prolapsed disc and possibly a trapped nerve and I need a scan, at present the most comfortable position to sit is actually lying down on my left side with a cushion between my legs, which severely restrict my walking.

Anyway less of these problems I have spoken to Zorro who had to return to Britain because of health risks in South America, but who has now gone to Spain for another holiday, where I hope to meet up in a weeks time with him. So we may have some more interesting issues on the Blog in the next week or two.

The other week I noticed 100 Best Musicals of all time were on TV which I eventually managed to record, I had a look at parts of the recording, and came across a little bit that said ”all people who watch musicals and enjoy them are camp and gay” which I feel is inappropriate both for people who are gay and for us other people who as far as we are aware heterosexual and very definitely not camp, although romantics, because we enjoy a happy story, good melodies, and a happy outcome, which are the main ingredients of my favourite musicals of all time, such as Singing in the Rain, Calamity Jane and Annie Get Your Gun.

Well the other, sort of good news that I have, is that I am debating on creating a new Blog on the theme that I originally decided my Blog was about.

Although I appear to have lost direction totally. Therefore the new Blog will be about the fascinating things that have happened to me in the course of my life both happy and sad and pinching Melanies idea I will put some of my old photos on including my one and only appearance on stage in my pyjamas, apart from the time when I was wrapped in a piece of carpet as a dead body, in a play that won second prize in an amateur dramatic festival, when I was later complemented on how well I had acted the part.

Well I will close the but look out for the new exciting Blog soon.

More Ravings of a Sad Old Tog

26 February 2007

Well hello again everybody what a few weeks it has been, I am really jealous of Melanie all she has to say is that she has lost inspiration and that she is going to waffle & she aquires new followers.

Having said that her choice of images and now music definately make her blog much more attractive than mine.

My excuse is that it is now 2 months since I first started having problems with my spine & other bits so sitting down to work has been quite painful, but tomorrow I am seeing my osteopath so hopefully I will feel much better.

I have been trying to find some new photos in particular sunsets, but unfortunately the sun rises on the wrong side of my flat & I get home to late to see the sunset on the other side, roll on the longer days

Well my holiday is booked, the tickets have arrived, & it is only a few more days before Brian & I go on our latest adventure, both are taking our cameras so i hope we will have some great ones to show you all

Sadly Zorro has not given me any more content for the blog but I am hoping we may meet up on holiday, to see some sites a little bit more different than the average outing.

For some strange reason, although I have just recieved the draft petition for my divorce, plus I still have not sorted out my costume for my birthday, I am off on holiday & have just taken on new work in relation to my job, just before travelling to Ireland for my grand daughters confirmation in 10 days.

Despite all this at weekend I was talking about another concert to raise some funds for shopmobility!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (do I never learn)

Another one of those weeks

11 February 2007

Well what a week its been, I have been in pain which finally was diagnosed as a twisted pelvis, sorted out I thought but now have some other painful thing that I am sure will be sorted out soon.( I Hope)

I never seem to of had time to stop all week, Zorro has been sending me useful information to do with the forthcoming holiday which I must admit I am very grateful for, but sending me e mail that implies what rotten people that do my job are.

Despite my RSI in my right hand & arm I seem to of spent a lot of the week writing, & at work I have been assessed for aids to help me with my hearing, surely another sign of Togdom

On the nice side I read an article the other day that maybe will inspire me, namely threebeautifulthings ( if you have time please have a look) because the concept relates to the fact that the nice things are out there, it is just seeing them ( melanie you will understand that)

Despite that on the metro the other day an obnoxious man behind me talked into his mobile about the most boring conversation, apart from mine in a really loud voive for 20 minutes & when I asked him quietly would he speak quieter or wait till he got to his destination, in true style he paused for breath then continued, what was interesting was the faces of other passengers who appearred to agree with me but felt unable to speak out, what a sad world we live in.

There's No Business Like Show Business

31 January 2007

Well hello to you readers, the concert finally took place after a lot of hard work it. For the last few weeks we have tried to advertise the show convince friends to buy tickets and make sure the performers have not lost interest.

On the day of the show Brian and I went up to Bevs to pick up her sound equipment, when we got there, she told us that she was having problems with a throat infection and she was in terrible pain. Despite this she still managed to get ready and come with us to the venue.

When we got there we then found out that the other singer Jean also had a throat infection but was willing to carry on. Eventually we decided how the show was going to run, Bev managed to set up her sound equipment and integrate it with the other singer's equipment.

I suddenly noticed that the public were already coming into the theatre at least we must of provided some unexpected comedy entertainment for them, we tried using the venue's sound equipment but it was incompatible with Bev's so eventually we decided it was best to switch it off, and rather than clever lighting effects, we decided to have a nice standard of lighting on the stage.

Kate had a great idea on Saturday of providing bottles of water for the acts, which she had brought on the day, but we had no glasses drink out of.

One of the best things all the way through was the time and patience that were shown by the management at the venue, in particular James and Chris, on the day Chris was a star, and put up with our strange demands, the latest was could they let us have some plastic cups to put the water in, bearing in mind this would reduce the profit on the bar, despite this Chris again came up trumps.

One of the good ideas James had previously was to put some tables out for the choir at the back of the room which would make it so that the room would look more full. This worked very well.

The other person who was outstanding was Jackie from the choir who at the last-minute took on the role of compere, providing a cheerful entertaining extra act between the others, bearing in mind that there were no rehearsals prior to the show, if you read this Jackie thank you again for helping to make this show a success.

I realised that the best place for me was behind the stage controlling the curtain so I could avert any disasters, so my view of the show was non-existent apart from looking at a pink curtain and listening to the acts.

Unfortunately this did not work because when I tried to decide how much to wind the curtain back I forgot initially to clear it so the keyboard player could see Jean, strangly the audiance actually noticed when the curtain suddenly started moving again just as Jean started singing.

The other thing I did that I hope nobody noticed was to get a drink from my water bottle which was okay until the plastic started to crackle, to me very loudly whilst one of the acts was singing, for me it seemed to reverberate all across the stage.

I really was impressed by the singer Jean who despite her throat infection managed to give a magnificent performance which I and all the others I spoke to agreed we really enjoyed.

Affetside Choir gave their usual professional performance which we all enjoyed, the Sax group conducted by Ruth gave a similar quality but very different style of musical performance.

Bev gave the audience yet another great performance, again despite her throat infection and pain she was suffering, and managed to get the audience to join in and even to dance along with the songs she sang.

Just to show however hard some of us work to make something a success, at least one person complained that the raffle had been fixed. This resulted in me doing a very rare task for me which was going onstage to explain what had happened in front of the audience, as usual the plug was pulled on the sound system just as I got into full flow. There are those who would say what good thing that was, no wonder I prefer to be backstage.

Well the good news, we managed to make a profit, all the people I have spoken to enjoyed the performance, and people even mentioned having another show.

Another Crazy week ahead

Well readers have just read melanies blog and was very impressed, when I remember how will add her blog to my links

Today saw Gp who tells me I have to go on a bland diet until I solve certain problems out, also I have bruised my bottom so need to be careful how long I sit & what type of seat I use, what is going to go wrong next.

Had an assessment because of the problems I have typing on my computer, the result is I now need a new computer at work plus extra software & training, if it works should make life easier if not, it could create problems, maybe restrict my blogging, ( who said thank you)

I have now informed most people of my change to my party sadly some do not want to dress up, so I am hoping others will try even harder.

It is the fundraising concert this week, I hope we get a good turnout but I feel it will be a good show. I f any of you readers are willing to buy a ticket, it really would be appreciated although I do accept that Zorro Hamster & my readers in New Zealand will have a long way to come for an afternoons entertainment.

You mat remember that Scarlett Angel posted a comment last year, well i went to see if she had put anything else on but she has disappearred sadly, it seems a shame hers was a good read, maybe I will have to put something else on to do with Ken Dodd.

Well I am getting tired now in particular after reading about Melanies adventures so will go and relax and watch Celebrity Big Brother for an hour or so to wound down before going to bed

The Tospsy Turvy Path of the Plans for My 60th

Well everthing was going so well then my son rang to say problem because grand daughter has exams on day of party she is sitting exams until 4.30 that day.

Rang venue, sighs of relief they can change the date, now only have to contact everyone to inform them of date, by e mail phone & letter. In case any of you are reading this the new date is 22 January at the same time and venue.

One or two people are now saying that they are bit uncomfortable about fancy dress, so I do not want them unhappy, so I am trying to think of fancy dress that is modern that they will not seem out of place with, if any of my readers have ideas please let me know.

Someone has already pinched my idea for my costume, so will have to have another think, plus 2 sets of people have now asked about where they can change, why did I not think about that, further work to solve that one.

Sadly 3 sets of people have said they cannot come which will be a shame, so will now have to decide who else to invite or drop the numbers

An Update from Zorro

N is , I suppose , from what we would call a middle class family. She's the 15 yr old daughter of my friends R y A. Girls that age go out chaparoned and are never left alone , even in the house, with a male , except members of the family. I am slightly different in that I am foreign and the mother always tells her friends " Señor Zorro es un verdad Caballero Ingles" - A true english gentleman!!!! I wish!15yrs is the most important day for a girl here ¨¨18yrs for the boys. So Big party and the girl has a expensive made to measure white gown. It´s a contradiction here that young girls are so well protected or restricted if you like, yet women of all ages wear very revealing, plunging necklines and although some do wear quite short skirts the fashion is for very tight jeans or trousers.

From last year I have called N my sobrina and she calls me Tio alan. She is my niece and I am her uncle. So N & I CAN go off to the shopping mall for a dress, as a present from me, alone .....as long as I report to mama any male her daughter speaks to even to ask the time.. Not for the birthday party this is just a pressie. I am writing this just to describe the reaction of different people to us being out together.

The odd male American tourist looks at me with part envy and part God! He must be rich!
The young American women here working with the peace corp look at me with loathing .Despoiling a young girl. Taking advantage of poverty.

The Paraguayans on the other hand will say something along the lines of ...... your buying a present for your daughter.
No it is my niece.
Ah,you are a favourite uncle.You are very lucky.My daughters are 13 &11 years.
You then have to sympathise on how expensive it will be.

Goes without saying the dress is a strapless, ankle length that hugs the figure and all the shop assistants ask ME if I like it.

Happy New year to All My Readers

4 January 2006

Well a happy new year to all our readers, at long last I am back in England after my trip to Ireland with my family after the Christmas period.

It was interesting and a quite different Christmas but I must say I was made very welcome.

When we went to the shops it was almost the same as being back home apart from the fact everything was priced in euros and was more expensive than back home.

The other interesting thing was that there were many East European accents in shopping centres which shows how the culture of southern Ireland is changing.

The highlight of my trip was on New Year's Eve when the family welcomed the new year in, in their own personal style and I think I will remember for the rest my life.

I was quite surprised being a Tog that when I was discussing my favourite subject of the moment namely Bloggs that none of the family really knew much about them including the young teenagers.

This was the perfect opportunity to tell them all about my Blog and the world of Blogging. My granddaughter told me that she has a web site for young people and has friends who she communicates with, in particular at 15 -year-old young man.

Sadly I had to explain to her and her sister that she needs to be very aware not to disclose too much information about herself or family because there is no guarantee that people are who they profess to be.

A good example of this in case you had not realised is that I am not realy called Francis The Fearless neither does my personality reflect my name

They were quite surprised at this and could not believe that people told lies on the Internet, in one respect we could say this is a good thing in that there are still children who are innocent and naive, but at the same time it makes us more aware of the fact that children are vulnerable to predatory people on the Internet because they are still to trusting.

Well finally on a lighter note Zorro suggested once again that I start a new Blog around adventures that we have had in the past for the benefit of you readers out there so wait for the next exciting announcement.