Blue Witch

In The Coven Bedroom, Mr BW expectantly awaits, hoping that BW may have a change of heart...

Kittens etc

Or rather, cats. They are 19 weeks in this photo, but I think they are 20 weeks tomorrow. *counts* Ah yes, I was correct. It's a good job they were born on Mi1dred's 75th birthday, because I can remember that date!

The smallest is so like his mother that I can't tell them apart now, particularly as they both have red collars. Not good planning, but I haven't been able to procure any BW Blue ones recently, presumably because all The Party supporters have been buying them up for the feline wing of the party, which Debster is going to run because it will keep her out of mischief.

Largest Son Familar was a-spied six foot up the silver birch tree outside our bedroom window earlier - not stalking birds, but hanging upside down playing with the fat balls we've hung up for the birds.

I'm giving myself this week's Make Blue Witch Laugh Award, for my comment here. I know you shouldn't laugh at your own jokes, but, I have to keep warm somehow. Because, you see, we have a perishing cold problem due to perished pipes.

On Wednesday evening, we gave up our thrifty heating exercise - which was investigating how long we could keep warm using just the Aga (which gives background heat to the kitchen and dining room, as long as you keep the doors to other rooms shut, and the bathroom, where the towel rail is the heat leak to the system), and the two woodburners - a small one in the lounge and the huge one upstairs in The Studio, which runs across most of the top of the house, and is super-insulated, so provides a hot top to most of our rooms.

We started by thinking we could avoid burning oil (we have no mains gas here) until we got back from our week oop norf on 8th November, but, as it was mild then, we just kept putting off turning the boiler on. I had in my mind that I'd give up feeding woodburners all day on December 1st, because a quick Witchy calculation told me that the not-putting-the-boiler-on-for-six-weeks-later-than-usual exercise would offset the higher price of oil this year, compared to last, for the whole of the heating season (actually, it was a guess, but I don't think it was far out).

But, I spent a day in a cold schoo1 on Wednesday, and, once I get cold, it takes me days to warm up, and Cleaner BW comes on Thursdays, so we decided that the heating could go on.

It fired up immediately (oh the joy of external oil boilers), but there was a pungent smell of oil, which didn't go away. The house warmed up nicely, and although the oil smell didn't get any worse, it didn't get any better either.

When Mr BW came home on Thursday evening, he decided to investigate, and, as he lifted the top-hinged boiler cover, ended up with a cup of kerosene in his hair.

The oil-carrying pipes (the black ones I think - although you can't see the degradation in the photo) had perished over the summer, and, as the boiler hadn't been serviced before we turned it on, largely because the boiler service man won't work on external boilers when it's cold and I'd omitted to get him out at the end of the summer, so, as we'd only run the boiler for a few months since it was last serviced, Mr BW, newly trained in servicing Agas by the Daddy of one of one of Mi1dred's friends, who does that for a living, decided he could follow the step-by-step instructions in the manual and do that too.

The boiler was originally made by a company 40 miles away, and I'd planned on going to fetch the necessary spare parts from them yesterday, but a quick search on th'inter found that they had been bought out twice since 2002, and that they were now part of the T£$co's of the boiler world. The only up side to that being that there was now a spares distributor guaranteeing to have 98% of boiler parts in stock, and 100% available within 24 hours, on a new industrial estate just behind where Mr BW works.

But, of course, the parts he was sold didn't match the threads on the boiler. So he's gone off to change them, leaving me to keep warm with only my old broom, and an old mug tree that no-one wanted at a car boot sale, to burn...

The Friday Question, from Mr BW

In the 50s and 60s, when cameras were comparatively rare and bulky, and photographs were taken sparingly, we seem to have been awash with grainy film and photography of UFOs, The Loch Ness Monster and Big Foot.

Now, in 2008, when just about everyone (it seems in the world) has a mobile phone, instantly to hand, that is capable of taking high quality photographs and decent video, we don’t seem to have seen a single picture or video of anything mysterious for what seems like decades.

So what’s that all about then? Surely they weren’t all spinning plates on fishing line set up as metaphors of the threat from the old USSR?

Welcome to The Party

Thank you for all your offers so far for Party roles, which are all accepted. More supporters as well as activists are always welcome.

To develop cohesion and co-operation, The BW Party has decided to allocate the role and office of Public Relations to all of you.

The BW Party notes with pleasure that Clear Blue Dave has already started his duties on this front.

The first task for all the Party's PR team is to come up with a good slogan.

In order to come up with a slogan, one has to first do a task analysis (note to self, don't use jargon) consider the Party Values. Something about Value and simplicity and communication and honesty and co-operation and encouraging and enabling responsibility in everything through education...

So, over to you to come up with more Values, or even slogans...

Thought for the day

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

- J. R. R. Tolkien

Your chance to influence the future!

The BW Party welcomes your ideas for additions to its previous manifesto.

It doesn't matter how wacky or surreal they may be - as someone said to me recently, "BW, you don't so much think outside the box as live outside it!" My middle name is synectics. We can work with all your ideas...

Volunteers Nominations are also being accepted for positions with the Party.

The Blue Witch Party's response to Darling Brown

The BW Party is minded to resurrect itself to respond to yesterday's emergency budget.

Because, clearly, it has been drawn up in a hurry (emergency = 999 = hurry = not thinking clearly), and has totally missed all the best ways of doing things.

What the governmint is doing is in bold, the BW Party's response is in normal type.

* VAT cut by 2.5 percentage points

£2.50 per hundred pounds then. For 13 months. Fab. A great way to encouarge people to buy even more consumer goods and commercialsied tat that they don't need. Not.

Won't the shops be empty this weekend though? Everyone waiting until Monday, when the rate drop comes into effect, to buy their unnecessary FOTCR™ gifts? No? Then why is this costly gimmick going to work at other times?

Just think of all the work that will have to be done to alter the VAT rate on computerised systems and rewite price lists, and price signs, in just 7 days (printers and programers must be rubbing their hands in glee at all the overtime coming their way this weekend). But that cost is borne by business, not the governmint, so, who cares? Plus, will shops really pass the 2.5p in the pound cut on to consumers? The BW Party doubts it, in the current climate.

Why didn't the governmint instead abolish stamp duty on house purchases? That would get the housing market, and all its associated services (including the construction industry) moving again.

Why didn't the governmint instead abolish the 5% VAT on gas, electricity and other forms of domestic heating fuel? That would help many in so-called fuel poverty, and might encourage those at risk of cost-worry induced hypothermia to put some heating on in their homes. It would also put more money in everyone's pockets, so giving them more to spend.

* 45% tax rate on earnings over £150,000 from 2011

Why wait until then? The BW Party would bring in 50% tax for anyone earning over £100,000. From next Monday (December 1st).

However, The BW Party accepts that in many partnerships, where one earner is making large amounts of money, the other is supporting them by not working full-time themself, through childcare, other caring duties, or management of household or business. Therefore, The BW Party would allow unusued tax allowances to be transferred between married or civilly partnered couples. This would have the added advantage of allowing one parent to stay at home with their child(ren) rather than working half the week to pay someone else to do the parenting. And encourage people to commit to each other.

Oh - while on this subject of offspring, The BW Party would also restrict people to reproducing replacement children only - ie one child per person. Although, childless people could sell their one child allowance on - after all, they'll spend the rest of their lives paying taxes to support others' children, so they might as well get Value sometime. This would have the advantage of only letting people who could afford it have more than two children. Which seems fair enough to The BW Party. Child benefit would also only be available for the one-for-one replacement children, not for any bought-in top-ups. The BW Party would also require prospective parents to pass a basic test in child development and sensible parenting principles before they would be allowed to conceive, and parents could be made to attend top-up classes if their offspring were deemed to be out-of-control for any reason (as defined by The Party Founder - eg running and screaming in supermarkets or on aeroplanes, out alone after dark, bullying others on school buses, loitering with intent on street corners in the school holidays, being abusive to teachers or old people etc etc).

* All National Insurance to go up by 0.5% from 2011

The BW Party has been under what must have been a misapprehension that NI contributions were meant to be used for providing pensions and healthcare. David Lloyd George must be turning jumping up and down in his grave.

Now the governmint is proposing to use the National Insurance system as yet another stealth tax to prop up its faulty accounting and inability to balance the books. Erm, why?

A nice mess for The BW Party to inherit when it comes to Power...

* Borrowing to hit record £118bn

Presumably taking a leaf out of the book of the average Brit, the governmint see credit as the answer to all the country's problems. Buy today, pay tomorrow. Never never Darling Brown.

The BW Party would require all people over 16 to pass a test in understanding compound interest before they could have either a bank account or a credit card.

The BW Party would insist that only people who effectively manage their own household incomes could be employed in the Treasury or civil service. If people fail to manage their own incomes, how can they be expected to understand managing larger incomes, such as a country's?

* Phased increase in vehicle excise duty

Oh yes, hit the motorist again, why don't you? Your continual soft target. It has not escaped The BW Party's notice that the motorist won't even benefit from the VAT reduction as stealth tax, stealth tax, fuel duty is going up. So bye bye petrol below 90p a litre and diesel at 105.9p.

The BW Party is all for reducing car usage. But, it would ensure that those living in areas without adequate public transport would receive allowances to enable them to travel sufficient miles to cover basic needs, in a fuel-efficient vehicle (ie 50mpg plus). Note, The BW Party does not consider driving Jonny and Jessica to school to be necessary, or good for them. Basic needs will include food shopping, travel to work (the first 10 miles of each journey only), and medical, dental and optician visits.

* £60 Christmas gift for pensioners

All of them?

Already the most advantaged generation that there will ever be (have final salary pensions, had jobs for life, could retire at 60/65, made huge profits in the value of their houses, get huge heating allowances paid for by the workers amongst us, get 10%+ off in shops and restaurants just for being old), Middle England again has to support the world cruising, grandchildren's school-fee paying grannies and grandads.

Why?

*****************************

Clear Blue Dave is on message (the BW Party accepts that, in these tryingly Brown Times, Darling, it must use some jargon of which its founder would otherwise disapprove) and has recently rehashed one of The BW Party's original manifesto ideas. Subliminal planting of ideas works (albeit nearly 4 years down the line), yay! (although The Founder admits she didn't remember this until she went looking for the Party Logo in the archives...)

That was a party political broadcast on behalf of the BW Party.

There's plenty more where that came from... just read the archives (and scroll up)... proof that I did once write good stuff, even if I say it myself...

Thought for the day

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

- Warren Buffet

Chilli Sunday

It didn't start snowing until 8.30am this morning. It's stopped now. There is an icing sugar coating. Pathetic spell.

Back to making mincemeat (without the meat but with 10 year old raspberries and 8 year old blackcurrants found in the depths of one of the freezers - instead of the cranberries in Delia's delicious and infinitely modifiable recipe) and threading chillis (final pickings from the greenhouse yesterday) onto a string.

Yesterday I wandered in The Coven Grounds and found and picked about 8oz of raspberries and discovered a strawberry plant with flowers and 3 green strawberries. I put it under a mini glass cloche. They may be ripe in time for the FOTCR™. Alternatively slugs or rats may eat them.

Thought for the day

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.

- Margaret Young

Saturday (I can't think of a good title)

For a long time there seem to have been a dearth of £5 notes in circulation, resulting in getting a pocketful of coins as change when buying something costing less than £5 with a larger note. I kept hearing mention of the imminent introduction of a £5 coin.

Just recently, though, there seem to have been a resurgence of (very scruffy looking) £5 notes. Is this all part of the governmint's 'strategy' for dealing with the fiscal mess the developed world has created for itself?

Is this reappearing note phenomenon country wide?

It's blimmin' cold here. And we have garden jobs to do today. Cluckers to clean. And the wood pile to sort out. The covering blew off in all the recent wind, plus there are more contributions that need chopping up. It's two degrees with lots of wind chill. No snow yet, but I may turn truly Blue (at least I'd show up in a snowdrift).

The Friday Question

Yesterday I spent all day learning how to do sudoku.

With a difference.

Sudoku with fabric.
Texti1e Origami.

With an amazing teacher - my faith is restored. There is one in the world!

Starting with just small squares and rectangles of fabric, and cutting nothing off, a 9 block 12" x 12" resulted:

As you'll see from the pins, it's not quite finished - there are more edges to roll and fold back, and secure with tiny stitches. Certainly different, fun to do, and a perfectionist's challenge.

Today's question then is: crosswords, sudoku (the original sort!) or noughts and crosses?

Thought for the day

The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary.

- Vidal Sassoon

Things the world doesn't need

Most of us in the western world have everything we need.

It's becoming harder and harder to find FOTCR™ gifts for most people.

People stress about sourcing the perfect gift - and spend money they can't afford and/or haven't got.

Why?

The perfect gift in the buyer's opinion is also rarely likely to be the perfect gift in the recipient's.

Which is why we've now abolished the non-sensical ritual with almost everyone we know. I'd much rather give somebody a home-made gift at another time of year, just because, rather than Because Our 'Culture' Dictates Gifts Shall Be Given on 25th December.

Useless gift companies proliferate, selling useless gifts. Meanwhile half the world doesn't have access to safe running water or enough food to sustain themselves.

My nomination for useless gift of the year is this. A jar that counts the money you put into it. Saving odd coins in a jar then counting them used to be a great way for kids to learn about money. Here's yet another way to ensure they have no sense of Value, and instead, in a few years, will just keep pumping those four magic digits into a plastic thief device until the credit limit runs out

Any other contenders?

Thought for the day

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.

- Don Marquis

Heat

We still haven't put the central heating on.

It's just not been cold enough, plus we still have a huge pile of wood left over from the extension building over two years ago (that I wouldn't let the bui1ders put in the skip) that needs to diminish. The best way to do that is, of course, to burn it, and it's amazing how much heat woodburners give out, and how little fuel they get through in a day once you've got them going. I've now honed my pyromaniacal skills to new levels.

I'm also staggered at how much difference installing cavity wall insulation and space-age ceiling insulation in the new Studio (which covers the original 'bungalow' bit of The Coven) has made to heat retention.

I was always very dubious about cavity wall insulation, but the material used these days cannot wick water across the gap, and a couple of corner areas on external walls previously prone to black mould, where the air didn't circulate well, have been completely mould-free since we had it done. So, a success.

Plus, although I thought long and hard about using a man-made multi-layered space-shuttle programme offshoot as roof insulation, it is undoubtedly much more efficient than any natural alternative we might have used. And that, to me, is the important point. Long-term effectiveness and savings, which will outweigh the initial environmental cost from the manufacturing process many times over its lifetime.

Now, I seem, for the first time ever (well, since I was a Small Witch and made to wear them), to be craving slippers. And a stair lift. The latter for transporting wood upstairs to the Studio woodburner. Probably. But it would also be fun to play on, wouldn't it? And useful on bad days. If only we'd kept the one Mr BW's Nan had, that we had to pay someone to take out, when we had to sell her home to pay for her care...

Thought for the day

Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.

- Christopher Morley

Ways to a Value FOTCR™

Given the time of year (I cannot bring myself to mention the word, and while I may not participate greately, I would like to save you some pennies and frustration), I'd like to compile a Value List of websites that you've found provide excellent prices and excellent service. In my experience, these tend to be small companies who have easy-to-navigate websites, communicate well, make reasonable charges for postage, and deal with any problems quickly and fairly (preferably on geographic rather than 0845- or 0870- phone numbers).

I'll kick off with a book one: www.bookdepository.co.uk.

They offer *excellent* prices and free delivery worldwide. I've used them probably 20 times now and the book has always arrived within 4 days, and in perfect condition (unlike other book companies I won't mention).

I also have lots of crafty websites to recommend but first I have to go to the dentist and do a towel audit, so I'll add them later.

Thought for the day

Our distrust is very expensive.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

God bless America

I went to a workshop on making si1k paper today.

My day was spoilt by a hugely obese, Republican-supporting, god-squad, hugely homophobic, Anglophobic, American coming and plonking herself next to me and talking non-stop at me for the rest of the day.

She was totally oblivious to my efforts not to engage with her (even when they were blatant rather than subtle), Totally lacking in empathy or understanding or interest in anyone or anything but herself.

Towards the end of the day she said to me, "Do you believe in God?" When I said no (and I didn't bother to qualify this as I normally would if asked this question), she said, "I'll pray for you to see the light!" I said, "And I'll do a spell for you to become less bigoted and more tolerant of people's differences!" She hadn't the faintest idea what I was saying, or that I'd just insulted her.

As I left I couldn't help suggesting that, as she was so dissatisfied with her life here she might like to return to her native New York. I think I might accidentally have given voice to my thoughts and inserted, "do us all a favour" into that sentence...

I now have an appalling headache.

Friday question

I have a hard drive TV recorder. It's called Mr BW. He's excellent at knowing exactly what I want to watch, if I could be bothered to trawl the Radio Times to decide, and making sure that it gets recorded. We tend not to watch TV live as I have a habit of falling asleep without warning once it gets past the time it gets dark, and we hate adverts because it jsut depresses us further about how easy it is for the ad men to get people to part with their money run up further debts on their plastic.

But we've been very busy around The Coven recently, it being the harvest and planty byebyes season.

And so it was that we had an enormous number of programmes to catch up on when we were in Northumber1and last week. That's the joy of going back to the same place every year - you don't feel the need to rush out to see everything there is to see, in case you never go back. So, we can jsut relax and watch TV. Like most of the rest of you do most of the time ;)

One of the things we watched was the evening of programmes on railways that was on BBC4 recently. A truly wonderful 5 or 6 hours of nostalgia.

Which got me to thinking - why aren't there any announcers or politicians who speak like those they used to have? What happened to them all? Or was part of it the recording techniques of the day distorting their voices a bit?

The question today is: if you could only have one radio station and one TV station for the rest of time, which would they be?

Give me Radio 4 and BBC4 any day. By the end of our week away we realised that almost everything we'd watched had been recorded from BBC4. In my opinion, the general quality of documentaries on BBC2 and BBC1 is now laughable, and most of the rest of the serious output on other channels is just insulting to the intelligence. I do not require, or want, everything to be summarised and repeated back to me every 5 mintues. I do not seek tabloid-style information, or advertising-commissioned survey data, and I care not one jot about what 'celebrities' do, think or endorse.

To be or not to be

It took us nearly 12 hours to get home from Northumber1and last Saturday. Given that we can get there in somewhere around five and a half hours, that wasn't exactly good.

But, we did do a two-sides of a triangle detour via the Leeds area to see a schoolfriend I've known since 1975, and we did spend four and a half hours with her catching up, and doing a tour of the local posh town charity shops. We saw plenty of trifle bowls, but not the one required (*nods downwards*). And we found some new objets. One can never have too many objets. And when one does, one has to move. Almost certainly to Northumber1and, but that's another story.

Mr BW refused to believe the satnav's suggested route home, so we ended up coming down the M1, which was much longer and much slower. Well, I can't prove the slower bit, as one never knows what the traffic might have been like elsewhere, but according to the satnav it was longer in all ways. But, we were treated to a non-stop firework display all the way from Leeds at 5pm to when we got home at nearly 10pm. I can't help wondering how many millions of pounds went up in smoke last week. Yes they're very pretty, but.

Anyway, the point of this is that Olde Schoolfriend BW told me, as a throwaway comment as we were crossing a road between charity shops, that I am "scary". Now, I'm not one to let people make throwaway comments without making them explain themselves. Apparently, I was always scary when we were at school, and I still am, but not as much. How she defines "scary" I failed to find out due to oncoming uncontrolled 4WD traffic, and the conversation moved on as we hadn't seen each other for several years, and she wanted to tell us about her current dalliance with A.N.Other who is not her husband. About which he knows, and which he tolerates. Some people never cease to amaze me, although it's not the first time she's done it.

So, trying to compute "scary" as applied to me, I've asked a few other people I know if I am, just so, well, just so I know. Without exception they've all paused longer than is normal before quickly telling me that they wouldn't exactly describe it as scary, but... And one or two have laughed. In a sort of embarrassed way. Or so it seems to me.

Last night at the Nice Ladies' monthly meeting I was heartened to see two new ladies I'd spent time talking to when they visited a couple of month ago. The President welcomed them as new members. I was delighted! After thirteen and a half years I'm no longer the youngest member. I chatted to them in the coffee break, and said how pleased I was that they'd usurped my role as Youngster, and asked them what it was that had drawn them into the group (always keen to do a bit of market research, to inform future practice, me).

They exchanged glances, then one said, "Well, actually, it was you. We so enjoyed talking to you, and you're so knowledgeable about crafts, and cooking, and gardening, and all the country things not many people our age know about..." Her friend butted in. "And you're really funny!" "Funny in a haha way, or funny in a strange way?" I enquired. I thought I needed to know. They exchanged glances again. The one who hadn't made the 'funny' comment replied, "Oh, well, probably both, as you mention it!" and they both laughed, but in a friendly fashion.

One of my favourite Nice Ladies came over and joined us. "Welcome to funny-land!" I said. "Funny hhaha or funny peculiar?" she said. "That's what I asked," I informed her, "apparently it had to do with me." "Oh, well then, definitely a bit of both, in a totally good way!" We all laughed and the two new ladies moved away to chat to someone else.

Knowing that the Nice Lady had lived in Trinid@d with her husband, who was a chemist (that's an industrial chemist, not a pharmacist), back in the 60s, and knowing that she'd been back there a couple of years ago before her husaband died, I asked her what she knew about Sledge Island. "Well, it was where I told my best friend's daughter to go on her honeymoon when she sought my opinion as the most well-travelled person she knew, why?" I told her. She enquired where we were staying. "Gorgeous, just gorgeous, you'll love it. The perfect place for you both!" And she reeled off a list of places for us to go to, so quickly that I nearly couldn't write them down fast enough.

So now I'm scary and funny, and no-one will tell me why.

But at least I know that the Witchy Co-incidence of the Sledge Island arrangements (*nods downwards*) is all good.

But I still want to know why I'm scary and funny.

Today I am less excited, so...

Mother and 17 week old son perched, uncomfortably by human standards, on a pile of 'stuff' in the utility. You may not be able to tell which is which.

Son saying, "Do come into my house..."

Son saying, "There's no way they'll be able to stop me taking over the world..."

And why am I less excited? It has to do with the only thing that every really bothers me these days... erm, yes, computers.

I accidentally knocked my external 500GB hard drive, where I store all my data, off the top of the PC tower yesterday, and it stopped being able to be read by my main machine (actually, any machine). It's making a pitiful electronic bleep once every 20 seconds or so, but no odd mechanical noises, and there have been no graunchings or other terrifying sounds.

Mr BW took it apart last night, but was thwarted in his efforts by not having the correct tiny tool to undo the security screw on the top (I think that was fate telling me that my comment about more than enough tools yesterday was misplaced).

Now, who'd like to give me odds on my chances of successfully getting the data off this drive onto another new one? I do have most of it backed up, but, because of how it's done, and because of the file reorganisation I did just before we went away, it will take hours to put it all back together.

Oh, and, Mr BW has gone to Germany, or rather, is going, after he's been to the dentist (I'm not sure which is worst), and we have rats, depsite everything we've done to not have rats (and three cats who all currently show a preference for playing with leaves and moss off the roof rather than doing their job). But the rat man cometh, so that one is the most easily solved.

78 sleeps to go

I was going to post kitten pics (they're now 17 weeks), but they're more like cats now, and are very, very naughty. Cleaner BW, who was house-sitting in our absence last week, clearly thinks I am a bad cat mother as two luxury cat beds appeared in their house (Mr BW's workshop) while we were away. An improvement on the old towels or blankets they usually get, but something long-forbidden by Mr BW as they would occupy space that vital boys' tool toys could otherwise fill. How one small car needs *that* many things I have no idea.

But I can't post pics of kittens because now I'm too excited!

Long-time readers will know that I'm a great believer in not doing something until/unless it feels right. A few weeks ago I asked if anyone had any personal recommendations for islands in the sun for January/February (I'm a Witch Who Needs Sun, and given that we haven't had any in this country this year, I knew that I wasn't going to get through the winter without finding some somewhere, and that in Europe-ish isn't hot enough in January, as we found this year in Madeira), and while there were a few suggestions, there were no definite leads. We looked around on th'inter. We got some brochures. We talked to people we know. But still nothing seemed right, and Mr BW was fretting about my inability to tolerate the lower classes and their delightful offspring for a dozen hours in a tin can (never good, but very much worse when I am more physically uncomfortable than usual, which I would be with 5 inches of legroom).

Mr BW had looked into using some of his BA Miles to travel business class (give me a bed and I can sleep anywhere anytime), but the amounts one still had to pay in cash for all the taxes were almost as much as a cheap fare, and even using BA Miles to upgrade wasn't a Value use of them.

Of course, what I really want to do is go back to the Red Centre in Australia (it's 5 years since we last went): I have this dream of having a month touring around the desert in a camper van, taking photos and being native and inspired. The money for the flights to Australia isn't that much more than flights to anywhere else warm, and I kept thinking I'd rather spend a bit more and go there. But, Mr BW's holiday allowance won't allow that, and, when we started costing out a 2-week stay, it was coming out to enough to buy a small car. Not that I want to buy a small car, but, given that the Blue Broom is eight now, it seemed more sensible to be doing that. Not that we couldn't afford both, actually, but, I'm not the sort of Witch who can blow our hard-saved savings like that.

So it was all going round in circles a bit and I concluded that the reason was, as I said about half an hour ago, was that I'm a great believer in not doing something until/unless it feels right, and this clearly didn't.

Talking to the farmers whose farmhouse we rent in Northumber1and last week about how recent events have proved just how unsafe one's money actually *is*, except, we concluded, in gold and liquid gold (AKA Buzzy Familliar Produce), I got to thinking just how stupid it was to not be using (rather than hoarding) what we had. It seems to me that if one doesn't have any money because one has been prudent all one's life, the government dishes it out, in all sorts of ways, but, if one has saved, one ends up getting nothing, and, indeed, contributing again to benefits for those who haven't been as prudent.

Plus, having already been stung by losses on endowments, the stock market (demutualisation share issues, SAYE and management share options: companies going bust through mis-management), the 'governmint' changing the rules on the age one could take one's private pension (Mr BW has to work another 5 years now, by being a couple of years too young to retire at 50 as we'd planned and saved for - if you choose not to have kids, and put in the work to manage your money, it's possible...), the collapes of the banking system - all things where we'd acted in good faith on available advice given to us - and having had several friends and acquaintances die prematurely recently, I've recently become very cynical about the point of bothering to plan financially, beyond a certain point. Which, admittedly, is probably already twice what most people plan for, but, Witches are like that...

Last night Mr BW came home saying BA had emailed him some special deals on business class travel, to a few places in the Caribbean. And he had two suggestions. One of which was Sledge Island, which had always appealed to me, but, for some reason, had hitherto escaped investigation this time round.

Th'inter was broken for an hour or so, and I had some work to sort out, so it was nearly 9pm before we started looking at the options. I thought we'd best check accommodation before booking flights, but Mr BW was keen to secure the flights before they'd sold out. So, I got ten minutes to look before we booked. I did a very quick Google search and, the very first link I clicked on (half-way down my 100-item search return - I never understand why most people have Google set to return just 10 items at a time), I found what seemed like the perfect place for us (the opposite side of the island to the all-inclusives and the airport, in a non-commercialised locals' fishing village, self catering, large beds, only a year old, children actively discouraged, 2 minutes from the beach, snorkelling on coral just off the beach, stunning views, very reasonably priced - ie less than the price of a Travelodge inthe UK per night rather than the $200-$300 plus extras one sees in brochures). So perfect, in fact, that I didn't believe it and immediately Googled "name of place" complaints / problems / dissatisfied / blog etc etc as I usually do. All I could find were positives. And then I found an English phone number - of the owners, who had it built, and use it as a second home.

By now it was after 9pm, and, being a Polite Witch, I never phone people I don't know after 9pm. So I made Mr BW ring them. And they had availability for the exact time we wanted! We made a provisional reservation. We then checked flights. They had the exact dates we wanted at less than half the normal business class fare. We emailed the owners to confirm our booking. By the time we woke up this morning they'd replied with all the information, which sounds wonderful. And it's cheaper for us both, for 12 days, with business class travel, than for 10 days for one of us, travelling cattle class, from a brochure. Que sera sera.

The spooky thing is, this morning I tried to recreate my original Google serach that led me to the place last night, and I couldn't...


And now I am too excited to post kitten pictures. 78 sleeps to go :)

Brooms away!

Have satnav will travel.

Back in a week, or maybe sooner in the comments box (Mr BW's portable internet doesn't like my blog posting page, but is usually OK on comments).

Must fly...