The Canular (by sarah)

Robot butterfly

Turn leach

Tendrils reaching

Till mosquito

Injecting

Wasp sting

Bruising

Flutter away now

Please?

An invasion of Wiggalls! (by sarah)

Yes Wiggalls not wiggly pets but Wiggalls, also spelt Wiggle and Wiggill. Every few years this extended family has a reunion and descends upon Cranham where some of the oldest records of the family show they live in the 1700 and 1800's. One of the properties they are thought to have lived at was Suttons Mill (the other building here where Alaric's aunt Barbara lives).

The records say treat with caution though and it is only definatly known that the Wiggall in question was a Miller in Cranham but the family still came to have a look around on Saturday afternoon.

I put on Tea, Coffee, squash and buiscuits for them - Barbara had triple booked herself for Saturday as she had an Opera in Cardiff and hadn't realised what time she had to be where. She did provide the posher buscuits mind!

We had known about the Wiggalls visit but had thought there would be about 12 people coming for tea and cake - instead Saturday morning I took a chocolate cake over to Barbara's to feed the horde when she a) announced she had forgotten about them and we needed to go and greet them at the village hall at 1 o'clock (Al wasn't due back from London until 2 as thats when she said they would be coming and b) that there were 100 American Wiggalls descending upon us expecting a historical tour of the place!!!! And me being me I went EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But at 1 o'clock I discovered that there were only 50 of them this year and not all of them would be coming - relief! There was also a lovely buffet lunch set which we were apparently invited too but Barbara couldn't hang around so I alas had to go.

The Wiggalls arrived and at the Mill at about 4 o'clock after saying they'd be here at 3! the photographer was late 🙂 They all seemed to enjoy the bits and bobs about the Mill that we could remember. And of course my piece de la resistonce - the Roman Urinal - I was thinking I should have had the photo of it out.

They took lots of photo's and signed the guest book and even bought Wiggle Pets 🙂 I should have brought out the post cards as they feature Wiggly Pets and bits of the Mill and garden but never mind! There was a little girl a bit younger than Jean with them so Jean had a great time showing her the slide - though it is wet!

Jean had got very excited about it all and had been abit confussed that the Wiggalls were going to be humans - she thought they were either giant wiggly pets, that band that sings Ferfer-esk songs, or dancing worms (I'm serious!).

They were all really nice and we even managed to end up in a discussion about metal work with some of them 🙂 They are from all over the place New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, America, Ireland and off course various local places round here!

They have demanded that we look after the place and mantian it or we will have the Wiggall clan down upon our heads! 🙂

It was a really nice afternoon once I stopped stressing about the fact they were coming. They signed the guest book and my events book - there were lots of previous entries for them in the Mills guestbook which was interesting 🙂

Kitten Cam! (by sarah)

There is not only a blog but now a Kitten Cam with live feed of the cute little furies! Alaric has already had to cut the home LAN in order to get me to stop watching them!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/KittensGalore

Seagulls (by sarah)

More hospital poetry

Seagulls

Soaring, roosting, perching

Above, in, on

Hospital peaks

City stretching

Inside Self

Fully contained

But the seagulls

Show hills

Disappearing mist

Blankets - clouds

Blue sky peeps

Monolith old

Religious relic

Dominates domiciles - weak

Hills wrap landscape

Steel giants

March endless

Communication

Gulls wings black - white

Strip

Eyes look

Me - glass cage

Concrete prison

Needles sharpe

Machines bleep

Time stretched

Monotony baige

Tread bare blanket

Yellow, Blue, Teal

Beyond flight

Trees puffed

Green, red luminous

Spring summer

Calling

Trapped, tagged

Stare

Seagulls, swallows

Night crisp air

Window ajar

My world

I am somehow there

First Class (by alaric)

Once a week, I go to London for a few days, almost always by train. It costs £42 if I buy a ticket from the station on the day - or, if I book in advance at TheTrainLine, as little as £16. Tickets ordered in advance are cheaper, but it seems there is a limited allocation of each price grade - as the more popular routes quickly sell out of £8 each way tickets, then the next level up (£11.50), then the next level up (£18).

However, when I booked the tickets for last week, for the return journey on Saturday, only the £18 ones remained - but, unusually, there were still some £19.50 first class tickets left.

I'd never travelled first class before. So, I decided I'd give it a try. £1.50 isn't much to spend on an experiment.

And my conclusion is: first class equals a comfier seat and the offer of a free biscuit and tea or coffee.

Which, if I drank hot drinks, would definitely be worth the extra one fifty, at the going rate for such things.

As a non-hot-drinker, I think I about broke even with my experiment, but on a journey of more than an hour, the better seat would be well worth a similarly small price increase.

But travelling first class is nowhere near worth the more than doubling in price (£116 rather than £42) it costs if you buy your ticket on the day. That's a total ripoff.