Sarah's Search for Success

Strange traditions

I live in an old town called Abingdon, arguably the oldest continuously inhabited town in the UK.  It has many old and somewhat strange traditions, which is something I absolutely love!  One of these is taking place today: Bun Throwing.  This dates back to the 1700s, but the reasons for doing it have been lost in the annuls of time.  What happens is this: the town councillors go up onto the roof of the old town hall (now the museum), and they throw buns down to the general populace in the market square.  Why?  No-one knows!  Bun throwings happen on extra special high days and holidays - the last one was for the Queen's Jubilee, and this one is to celebrate the Queen's 80th birthday and the 450th anniversary of the signing of the Town Charter.

A gentle rant

What is it with these "Baby on board" signs in cars?  I've been wondering about this one for ages.  What exactly is the purpose - are we expected to drive differently around a car displaying one or something?  I for one prefer to drive safely at all times, not just around baby-carrying cars!  If there is a good reason for it that I am just missing, please do let me know.  And while we're on the subject of strange car displays, an appeal - please can all of you good people driving around with England flags fluttering from your cars make sure that they are well and truly fixed on?  It is scary enough as a motorcyclist having a fag butt carelessly thrown out of a window in your direction (imagine one in your face!), without the threat of a flag-on-a-stick wellying you around the head.  Thanks.  Mini-rant over.

Darned freezer!

Yesterday my freezer, in its infinite wisdom, decided to defrost itself.  Well, OK, so it may have taken a day or so, and the reason was that the plug had inadvertently been knocked ever so slightly out of its socket, but it was darned inconvenient nonetheless.  Luckily my lodger noticed in time to salvage most of the food.

Spring joy!

Spring is springing and the garden's a-growing.  Now, I've had great plans for my garden since I first moved in, oh, a mere 9 years ago.  Since then, the wisteria has matured enough to pull down the back fence in a fit of petulance over not having the lovely big pergola to drape its flowers gracefully from that I envisioned.  The water feature is still a picture in my head, as is the herb garden other than a few pot-bound specimens.  And the patio is still almost but not quite big enough to fit a table and chairs comfortably.  As for the outdoor spa... well, a girl's got to dream!

Early mornings

Yesterday morning I was up at the unearthly time of 5:30am, and on a Sunday, too!  This may not seem strange to some, but for me, a dedicated night owl, the only time I usually see this time of day is if I'm still up from the night before.  It wasn't just some strange whim or residual jet-lag - I had to drag myself out of bed in order to get into London for yet another seminar - I think I've become a seminar junky!

The compensation for such an early start was the sheer beauty of the morning, enhanced by the distinct lack of traffic.  OK, so it took me 10 minutes to scrape the overly persistant ice from my car, but once I'd set off the scenery was breathtaking (or maybe that was just the cold!): the sky was eggshell blue, with an orange sun creeping up from behind the clouds, everything was touched with a crisp white frost, and there was a hint of low-lying mist to add an edge of unearthliness - wow.

It's not often that I'm tempted to call the scenery from the A34 breathtaking, but if I ever fail to see the beauty in such a moment just shoot me, as I'll already be dead.

80s Disco Fever

Last night I went to an 80s disco at the local golf club.  Great stuff, I thought, as I rummaged around in the bottom of my wardrobe for my old pixie boots and pulled various sparkly scarves out of the back of drawers (hoarder? me? never!).  I set to work with the scissors to hack the bottom and sleeve ends off an old t-shirt along with the collar, prior to turning it inside out (yes, I remember the old tricks, too!), as unfortunately my old 80s t-shirts seemed to have shrunk over the years...  Out came the sparkly make-up, and I even sat and painted my nails with glitter nail-varnish, which believe me is a lot more effort than I usually go to - I'm just a tad too much on the lazy side to be particularly high maintenance!

Luckily the boots were old and stretched enough to fit over my bruised and bumpy ankle.  Earlier in the week I had managed to fall over my own feet and twist my ankle whilst walking cold stone sober along a flat and even piece of pavement on the way home from the dentist - quite an achievement, I felt, having managed to return unscathed after trekking around various parts of Australia and New Zealand over the last month!  Although changing colour rather interestingly on a daily basis, it was fine to walk on, probably not great for a boogie, but I was willing to give it a go.