Drones and dolls. And some moon light.

Monza dog is chomping on the fish I just cooked him. I found it greatly reduced in price and showed him it still in the packet when I got home. He then would not let me leave the kitchen area until he could smell it in the steamer cooking slowly. Even as I tried to debone it in peace he had his nose on the kitchen worktop. So ...He likes fish then ! what he actually likes is very expensive fish...and he would never have got it unless the sell by date was past and I have a discount.

Another day another shopping trip.......this is what I am after today. These are discounted as well. so it one of my missions for today. How many dolls does a girl need for Christmas?? well the answer to that is ..."endless"

.




Shibajuku Dolls.

invented by Madeline Hunter and based on Harajuku and Shibuya japanese street style, invented then by a lady from Melbourne Australia.
Apparently a thumb on the nose to the 60 year old Barbie dolls.
I love them!!! and now have to have some. I also still love my old Barbie dolls....by this I mean the 1970s earlier ones...I do not like the modern ones at all. These Shibajuku dolls are a breath of freash air by comparision to the crap Mattel are producing at the moment. I do have a few "modern Barbie " dolls but that is only because I have found them for 20pence in Otley junk shop.

these new dolls are larger than most at 13 inches tall.....and they are really pretty with big eyes. how can i resist?
well I did not. I bought myself these two for Christmas. so they have gone into the mountain of stuff now not that well hidden in the cellar. Also I have had to let Lee look in the box of the drone I bought because he needed to know what mobile phone to buy himself. How did he find out about the drone? well it was an assumption based on detective work on his part.
"What yer blogging about ?" asked Lee
" Drones and dolls"
"not Christmas markets Kirkstall Abbey and alphabet chips then"


 Christmas market in Leeds Millennium square.  Christkindlemarket as it is. A little piece of Germany in Leeds so the website says.

 Old fashioned roundabout at the centre of the chalet stalls. This is a favourite feature from other years...I have not been to Germany. It one place yet to visit. As it holds no fascination for me I doubt I will ever get around to it. so this is as briefly close as I will ever get. This roundabout looks like one from the past fair grounds, and toys at Christmas that light up...in fact I have one of these horses as a decoration I get out every year too.......
There are a lot of very enticing wooden stalls which look a very lot like my own log cabin ...stuffed to the rafters with gorgeous things. Like candles. Not just any candles wax candles modeled and carved into angels. santas and what not. Themed Chalet stalls groaning under the weight of cheeses of many shapes and flavours, sausage chalets...hot food chalets serving Goulash, Schinitzels, stollen and ginger bread men. AND a whole chalet dedicated to candied fruit in all its glossy full colours..

I noted the Santa's breakfast experience too on my way past to the glass bauble chalet.....sparkly coloured and glass baubles ....loads hanging from the chalet ceiling...all shapes ...all sizes....glowing in the dull winter drizzle. Much too expensive for me but still very very tempting.......

 They pack up and leave on christmas eve...24th December and are open from 10.30 every day up until then...I think what I will do is come into Leeds on the bus next week then I will not need to worry about Monza dog in The Fonz car stressing and barking as I walk away. Lee stayed in the car with him today. There is no way he could be left in Leeds city centre on his own. At least at home he will doze on my new rug in the kitchen for a couple of hours.

 This is the beer chalet and the reindeer head on the top balcony sings christmas songs all of the day...he is a happy chappy. Very popular is the beer chalet even at this hour.......
We were walking around at about 12 noon today and it was a dull day...in fact it could be called moody...so I brightened up my photos as the lights and market had not really got going in the drizzle.

Leeds golden owls.....Always make a dramatic photo....The Golden owls the symbol of Leeds....Leeds coat of arms contains three owls and were from the coat of arms of Sir John Saville who was the first alderman of Leeds. The savilles came with William the Conquerer along with The de Middletons, Mauleverers, de Percys and loads of others and for their help at the battle of Hastings in 1066 and all that they were all awarded lands in Yorkshire....Gods own county and with out doubt the best bit of this funny isle.
Owls are also the symbol of Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom which is why I guess they adopted them. Anyway these four golden owls were created by John Thorp in 2000 and he held the title civic architect until his retirement in 2010 and is pretty much responsible for modern Leeds as we wander around today.
Discover Leeds owl trail?
https://leeds-list.com/culture/activities/discover-the-leeds-owl-trail/

Yes please! I will do this too when I come into leeds on the bus. The Leeds coat of arms was created featuring a fleece representing the textile industry and owls taken from the Saville coat of arms of Sir John Saville which is featured in my favourite stained glass wall at Bolling Hall Bradford.

And so the owl became a symbol of Leeds.

and I "borrowed this photo" from the web site as my photos were dull due to the light and drizzle. So here it is merry christmas from Leeds Christmas Market in Millenium square. This is more like it.


Lee waited in the Fonz car and I quickly got driven away to Kirkstall to buy lunch of Christmas sandwiches and the inevitable chocolate eclairs.

The next place I wanted to stop at was

Kirkstall Abbey.

Kirkstall Abbey was also owned by the Saville family at one stage as well. The knights that came to Yorkshire with William the Conqueror owned everything here mind!
 I noted the moody sky on the way past the Abbey house Museum and as I carefully crossed the road using the light up traffic lights crossing on this fast road. I am terrible with road crossing and had been told to use the crossing....obvious but essential in my case as I get distracted by the other side of the road and quite often cause an accident as I just step out......

 upon safe arrival at the gothic looking ruin I walked around the old path to the huge window.

 I did not go inside today. Nor did I hang about. it was raining by now and not too warm either. When the wind blows it goes right through you like a sliver of freezing glass.

 This ruin is huge, very Goth and frightfully romantic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w44R6gY7aBQ         Batzz in the belfry-- O holy night

 makes you want to write poems about unrequited love and all that bollox dont it?

O Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night
Of our dear Savior's birth

Long lay the world
In sin and error pining
'Til He appeared
And the soul felt it's worth

The thrill of hope
The weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks
A new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees
O hear the angel voices
O night divine
O night when Christ was born

O night
O holy night
O night divine

Check out the u tube Batzz in the belfry....O holy night. That should do it,

 Well it inspired Turner to paint some very romatic images so why not.

 The monks here brewed beer. as well as obviously taking in travellers and singing to the lord.

Amazingly beautiful it was today.

Back to the car past the Abbey house Museum. I checked the notce board on the way past as tomorrow is another day and I intend going inside for a visit......

lastly and not at all least we stopped at the big charity shop in Kirkstall where I bought these treasures......An Ever after naked doll...that is I think it is ever after as I recognise the face mould but not the black and white hair. so there is some home work for me this evening for a start and what is the reindeer from the movie Frozen called? any way that is who he is.
Then of course we went to Smyths toy shop and bought the two dolls I have been after for months. There is no point in hinting for stuff as it falls on deaf ears. I just buy my own presents now. saves time and disappointments. I do not expect anything and I certainly never get anything. job done.
I wanted these dolls for my birthday, but ended up buying an Ever after doll with money Father in Law gave me. I just get money now...if I am lucky as he can not be bothered to buy a present. Sounds a bit sad? well yes and no. As I always got bought red wine. even when I do drink wine it is never red. So it was a bit of a relief to tell the truth.

So home we went in the Fonz car. We miss the van badly now. today Monza had to share his big dog space with four boxes of beer. I had to share my passenger space with 2 boxes of beer ...2 big bags of grocery shopping. 2 dolls in boxes a reindeer and a naked doll. I held on to the bags sliding around on my knees with one hand and unpacked and ate chocolate eclairs with the other

I miss the van. all that would have been slung in the back and I could have enjoyed lunch with two hands.


Update. There is snow in Yeadon. Briefly at least. By the time I had gone straight back out with my camera only stopping to put on snowboots it had all but gone.

 The moon was out and the light over the Tarn was magical so I photographed that and headed  off to take the shot I wanted.

 The shot I wanted was this one of the lights in Yeadon. I also wanted a bus all lit up as well. As I knew the next bus would be at least another twenty minutes I caved in and went home.

It absolutely freezing. My poor body could never stand up to another twenty minutes of this temperature.........

Still tomorrow is another day and I can remember to take my camera with me then hopefully I can get the shot I want without becoming Yeadon's own ice maiden

It arrived.

 Tuesday morning again. early too and still I start my blog saying "woke up and made tea". Well it is still worth commenting on as far as I am concerned. I am always pleased to wake up. Living in Yeadon...beautiful as it is makes me very aware that one day there will be a day or night when I do not wake up ever again. Why does living in Yeadon bring this to mind? Well it is because we live right by all the old persons bungalows and crossing the square to go to the Tarn or high street passes them. Yeadon is stuffed with old people in retirement.
Almost daily we see ambulances...either taking them to hospital as an emergency or collecting patients for on going treatments.....
Outside the pubs mobility scooters languish. in rows waiting for their owners to stagger out.... It is not illegal to drive one of these under the influence.......The able bodied which I am reasonably....have to slide past the small spaces left in the door ways....
Not that I ever enter such establishments anymore and still find it hilarious that they are always parked outside from open to chucking out.

 So Tuesday. a day off. I have plenty this week and am using the time to accept delivery of the manic shopping on the internet. Today we got the new wood burner delivered and some more curtains.
I did not go far today. Just a very very very quickly to the Tarn with a Rock anglez Bratz doll. I walked along the slippy frosty road carting my Bratz doll. This morning I was fully dressed for the weather in street clothes and proper painted face.  I had on my pretty head and hair all pointing downwards
I arrived at the Tarn and turned on my camera........No card!!! it stated. pox. So I quickly walked home again with my Bratz doll to fetch it. I re passed all the same people who had given me a funny look the first time and then passed them a third time at speed skudding along as I had to move quickly as delivery of wood burner was imminent....so I kept looking over my shoulder to see if the carrier had arrived....which made people stare at me even more as they wondered why I was looking over my shoulder rushing along carting said Bratz doll and slipping and sliding around too......

 I did get these shots. By now the sun was up and the light was a lot easier to photograph........nearly 8am!!! this was late for me and early for Monza dog who had been taken for his walk by Lee in the Fonz car. I was supposed to stay home and wait for the wood burner. This was the plan we discussed anyway. Hence why I was behaving so suspiciously on a frosty morning in November.

 really worth it though was it not????

 I was up at 5am...and went down to the long suffering cellar...which I have now had to except will never be finished. So I cleaned it up and put pictures and shelves where I want them and ignored the fact that the ceiling and walls are not finished and put up my pictures and returned all books to the shelves.
Banging about I was.

 Drank a lot of tea too. That is yet another thing about living in Yeadon...as well as the old people that is.....Christmas is coming( the lights are on so it is now official) and  so all the Alcohol is on offer...mostly trendy spirits and Gin....beer and larger by the mountain pile. Others are fighting to the death to stock pile it all for the great Christmas and new year binge.
It is lovely. I do not drink. I don even have to bother.The money I get to keep in my buying junk stash is a huge amount!!!

Home I trotted...I would not go as far as saying I ran...but yes I trotted fast.....took this picture ....Lee has been decorating too!!! My log cabin..........

 I busied myself drinking yet more tea and rearranging the Bratz wedding Christmas decorations ......Then suddenly there was a phone call and the delivery truck was outside.
" I have a pallet for you" said the Geordie voice.
Lee went down to the end of the terrace and marvelled at the tail lift on the delivery vehicle........

 

I looked our of the door and wondered how we were going to get it inside...........it looks very innocuous ....it felt like a beast when I tried to move it.

The delivery guy offered to help us into the house. As Monza  was filling the entrance and barking at the guy we thanked him and declined.
"Thank you so much! we have been looking forward to this. "
" I help yer if yer wants.....I fitted me daughters last week...got up ont roof an all. I only have half a hand an half a foot...but i did it look..." he said stretching out his hand....he did indeead have half a hand. Three fingers remained.

Lee and I got the new wood burner as far as the kitchen just through the door......then admitted defeat. It is monstrously heavy.......the fitters are coming on Friday. so there it will be staying.

 we loaded ourselves into the fonz car with Monza in the back and went over to Guiesley to shop.......checked the junk shops and bought some more Christmas stuff....when we got back we had missed the post  and discovered more curtains had tried to be delivered.
Lee wants to know what else has been bought...I am not going to tell you. as he has his beady eye on this blog and hopes to discover. I am not that daft.

 We have four weeks to wait.......

 I bought some more decorations for the Bratz Christmas.... which I put up. This is as much as I am admitting to.......

 The bride and groom in this Christmas wedding were a present and the others I have collected from junk shops and ebay. I have a lot of winter wonderland and Rock Anglez along with stacks of clothes now...

This does not stop me from looking for more.
Wednesday morning and we are waiting for the light to come up and then we are going over to Kirkstall......as there are some more dolls I want from Smyths toys.
More dolls then. Merry Christmas. my fave Christmas song has just come on to the radio.....

The Pogues....   Never been bettered. So this Wednesday I leave you with this today.......

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day

Written by Jem Finer, 

Nostalgia in a cue.

By the time we got up and went to Otley the snow was about all gone.I looked out through the new bedroom curtains in the early hours and it looked cold and white.

 By doggy walk time the sun was out and the world looked like summer. We were not fooled. I had on my zip up high duvet coat and gloves.

we did not get to Otley until nearly mid day. By the time we had lunch and did all the charity shops it was Monzas dinner time and he was not too pleased about being in the car instead of chomping his way through freshly cooked liver.

 I wanted to go to the Victorian Arcade. I have my eye on a crystal necklace in a cabinet there.....
This little arcade is a real favourite as it is small and not very commercial AND...now this is a big and they do not play music.
There is something here for most people too if they bother to discover it....tool shop....paper shop selling...well all kinds of writing papers calendars colouring books that type of thing and a cafe which is all cozy and serves tea and coffee...properly served too.
There are mostly second hand shops and an old fashioned sweety shop.

My fave of all time is the shop whos interior looks alot like my house. to day there was a window display that I would happily buy every item......I looked hard a realised I already have more dolls like these than the shop has. still tempted i was. there is a smaller one inside for £4.00........next week if it is still there.....
Also it was here that I spyed the crystal necklace......A lot over the budget of 99p it is.....next time as well when Lee is not looking.

so on we went to the 20p shop. I found a Barbie doll for 20p and a doll dress for another 20p and then went wild and got a pair of black shoes...flat ones that I can shuffle in for yet another 20p. just my size and perfect for work..........why pay more to look like an old lady when I can do it for 20p?

Then home we went eating chocolate eclairs in the car and remarkably keeping Monza dog from pouncing upon them from the back of the seats......once home we put up the new swag curtains

and perfected the new kitchen unit......

then it was time to go to work an hour early as i stupidly said i would......

this was an unremarkable shift and I was just ten minutes from the end with a cue of customers when a psychic lady started to tell me about my past life. The cue of people waited patiently for her to reveal my life in Bath as an actress living in a big house with servants and lots of children.
then she started on the girl that she sees with me...

The man behind her was now getting very cross and started to grumble......

her own dog that was tied up in the entrance started to bark....and everyone else in the cue started to shuffle and groan......it was now 2 minutes to finish and i needed to shut my till down and put money and vouchers in order.....and yes i can serve a cue of people in two minutes and still get off on time but i need to be left to get on with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

she does this every time she sees me. usually on a Saturday late shift which is quite often a bit tedious anyway.....
I asked her if she sees anyone from the 1600s. We will see what happens next time!

hot dogs and flat pack.

Today we are going to Ikea.  I am up well before dawn measuring stuff. important stuff. Like places to fit in other stuff and windows and where to put rugs and candles. How would the world of interior design be without Ikea!? well I do remember before the new Ikea store opened up just near us in Bath. We used to shop in Habitat. That is where we got all our wedding presents and candles from. Then ikea opened up just over by Bristol and my friend Angie and I went on a pilgrimage to fill up our yellow crunchy bag whilst grasping the bible of a catalogue which we had spent the previous night learning by heart including all the short cuts to the hot dogs and mustard. before leaving I always went to the food bit and bought some squeezy fish paste (cavier) in a tube. some meet balls and cheese. I love Norweigan brown cheese...it looks like chocolate and the best thing about it is the cheese swipe slice that peels off a thin sliver.......oh yum.
want to get all measured up and get on the road but it is too early. I have looked it up it does not open for a few hours yet.....

I should explain,

I am old enough to get my pension. I used to be a civil servant for a short while. this short while was long enough to have me a nervous break down and acrue a small pension. I have just claimed this small pension as a lump sum because I can in this funny modern age. I am over 55. I will say that the lump sum is not quite so lumpy to day as we went extreme shopping yesterday.
Still it is lumpy enough for a trip to ikea to replace all the stuff in this house that is broken or never existed in the first place.

yesterday we went shopping. As I washed all of the contents of my pockets I had to call into work to find out what my hours for the day were.Then I could fit in all the shopping around this......on the way back to meet Monza dog on his walky.......I found these two prints......



Atkinson Grimshaw........the painter of moonlight and local artist......

And another Frank Meadow Sutcliffe to add to my collection of Whitby.
So the day started well.....

So here we are the light is up and off we go to walk Monza first thing. Then Poverty Aid a huge charity shop in Burley that we used to haunt and we gave them a lot of stuff from various van jobs in the past. They obviously miss us greatly because inside I found that I have taken better stuff to the tip.So we carried on over to Burstall and Ikea.
so if I was willing to buy bashed crap then I should spend the money on new crap at least.

It is months   or possibly even years since we went to Ikea and we made sure we did it all.

And yes we had a hot dog at the end.....Lee was very shell shocked as he spent money. Not as much as it could have been either!!!!!

We got home very carefully as we are used to having a big van and just slinging stuff in the back. We now have a car with a huge German shepard in the back. Everything only just fitted along side him. The rest we piled onto me in the passenger seat. oh how we miss that rusty old van.
It was comparitively like going to buckingham palace for tea. Trying to get stuff home in a car is a whole different world.....especially as Lee drove like playing on the dodgems at a fair ground. I kept having to catch flying boxes and candle holders to avoid decapitation.
I now have the money to get another van. Lets do it ASAP!!!!!

Once home we discovered that we still had to go to the supermarket as we had in no dinner...it being my day off we were going to do a big shop.....Ikea took a lot of time and made us loose the will to live....so I photographed some Christmas decorations and

watch Sweeny Todd ( Jonny Depp) and looked at all the boxes piled up and waiting.....

New candles were amongst the stuff we bought. I am ditching all the mismatched stuff from charity shops and having a bit of co ordination......

Merry Christmas soo far.