The Dunkirk Harriers - The tales we tell children

This story has been brought to you through "Story-telling Sunday" invented by Sian Fromhighinthesky  Why not pop over there after you have read my story and see all the other stories.



This handsome man is My Beloved Grandfather, and when i was somewhere around the age of 14,15ish I had the great pleasure to live with my grandparents, as I was in the middle of my exam years and the school near where mum and my WSD had moved didn't do the subjects i was taking, so have a sensible mum she decided it was better to inflict me on her poor parents(JOKE).  I was a much loved and spoilt only granddaughter, :).




Any way back to the point of the story, my grandfather though beloved was a bit of a wind up merchant and enjoyed nothing more than telling me tall tales, that I usually realised were tall tales, at some point during the telling of the tale, and would berate him for telling me tales, but secretly I loved them.


However there was one tale that I carried with me as the Gospel truth until I was at least 19 years old and this is the tale I am about to relate to you today on Storytelling Sunday as it is here in the UK April Fools Day I thought it appropriate.
My grandfather was a member of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers a fact that I have always been immensely proud, and one day he was busy in his workshop at the bottom of the garden setting his medals into a picture frame, as i loved watching him work with wood, I took my usual seat on a box to watch, the medals were shining in the sunlight and soon curiosity got the better of me and I started asking Granddad questions about what he was doing and taking an interest in the various medals he was arranging, one in particular caught my eye as it had a beautiful Purple and Yellow ribbon, which were my favourite colours, "this one is my favourite one Granddad " I said "what is it for?"   "Ah that one is my Dunkirk Harriers Medal, I got that for the 100 yard dash, we all got one" he said simply.  There it was a simple statement, but taken by me as the truth, and anyone that came to my grandparents house and admired the medals in their frame, I proudly told everyone that my favourite one was the one with the purple and yellow ribbon as that was granddads Dunkirk Harriers Medal and this went on until some cousins from America came to visit my grandparents and were looking at the family photos and my cousin spotted Granddads medals and I launched in to my tale of my favourite medal (please note that I am about 19 by this time) and my cousin looked at me with quite a shocked if not stunned expression and turned to my granddad and said " you were at Dunkirk !  Oh man that must have been intense"  (he was American) my grandfather just smiled and said "it was a busy day lad"  - Much later that day when my cousin was in the garden having a sly cigarette, I asked him as nonchalantly as I could, what was intense about Dunkirk, to which he explained to a very shocked me, the story of Dunkirk and what had happened out there, to say that I was cross, was an understatement, he might have survived Dunkirk but He was going to get it both barrels from me, but when I confronted my Granddad and told him I knew the truth, and that I was cross with him for not telling me how important the medal was, he simply smiled and said that the only reason the medal was important to him  was because I liked it, and because I would always remember the Dunkirk Harriers when ever I saw it.

My Grandfather was always my hero, he taught me all the important things a girl should know, how to fire a gun safely, how to change a tyre, and check a vehicles oil, and never to take anything you are told at face value.
I consider my self a very lucky person to have known my grandparents as well as I did, and I treasure the memories and the things they taught me, have served me well.

the dog in a suitcase and dad in the boot.........

Well where to start, this time last year I had just lost my dad, he had died, unexpectedly and had left me feeling very confused, and angry with him, but also desperately lost without him.  As we had had him cremated, I had arranged with the funeral directors to collect my dads ashes directly from the crematorium as i passed it each day on my way too and from work.  However when I rang the crematorium to check what time they closed each day, I discovered that my dad was not at the crematorium and i would have to contact the funeral directors directly.  When i rang the funeral directors a nice lady went to check and see if dad was with them, then came back and told me that yes he was with them, but they had no idea how as all the paperwork said  I was collecting his ashes from the crematorium,  but it wasn't a problem I told her I had an appointment that afternoon and was leaving work early so would be able to collect my dads ashes later that day.


I arrived at the funeral home and rang the bell, the nice lady appeared and asked me to wait in the lounge, while she got dad's ashes (to be fair she said deceased's remains) but that sounds weird.  Now i am not sure what i was expecting but it wasn't what happened next as we had asked for dad's ashes to be in an eco box as we intended to scatter them alongside my grandparents so there was no need for anything fancy, the nice lady entered the room carrying what can only be described as what looked like a Posh london stores (beginning with H) gift bag!!  and i am sorry but i was desperate to laugh, making my excuses I left.


Now my appointment was with the grief counsellor at my doctors surgery, and the carpark there is tiny, so i planned to park in the side street, but I was now in a quandary as i had my dad in his posh gift bag strapped in with the seat belt on the passenger seat (had a nightmare about collecting him and him spilling on the floor of the car as I had to do an emergency stop)   he looked expensive and stealable, i would have to put him out of sight and the only place for that was in the boot, which made me think about the story of the dog in a suitcase, which in turn made me laugh till I cried..........     You see I had a friend who was dog and house sitting for some elderly family friends in London while they were away for several weeks in New Zealand seeing their son and new gradnchild, and while they were away my friend came down to find their dog dead in his basket, now she's not the sentimental type so she looked in the very well organised info file and found the number of the vets the family used and rang and asked if they knew if the family had pet insurance, which it turned out they did and this would cover the dogs cremation and all she had to do was get the dog to the vets and they would take care of everything.......  which would have been great if my friend could drive or had a car,  so she sat a thought for a bit and decided after looking at google earth that the vets was only one stop up on the tube and if she put the dog in a suitcase she could just wheel it to the tube station and then round to the vets....... sorted.   So she hunted the house and found an old suitcase in which the dog would easily fit, and she set off to the tube station which was only at the top of the road, she got on the tube no problem BUT when she got off at the other end she realised that the only way out of the station was up a large flight of stairs, and the dog was no light weight (more of a dead weight) so she began dragging the suitcase up the stairs huffing and puffing like the very unfit person she was, until a tall dark stranger in a suit  took pity on her and asked did she need a hand with her bags, my friend was so grateful and she and the stranger began dragging the bag up the stairs together " man what have you got in here" said the tall dark stranger,  this is where my friend lost all her composure and started rabbiting about being a student and constantly having to pack all her goods in to a suitcase and move you know like her laptop, cd's dvd's etc etc you get the picture, eventually a few agonising minutes later my friend and the tall dark stranger got to the top of the stairs and onto the street at the front of the station, which looked very different from what my friend could recall from google earth and as she looked around her for a point of reference she recognised to be able to head in the right direction for the vets surgery, she realised that the tall dark stranger in a suit had left without her thanking him, THEN she noticed that not only had he left but he had TAKEN the suitcase!!!!!!!!!!!!   She stood in shock for a few minutes not sure what to do next, its not as if she could report it to the police, as all the man had stolen was a dead dog in a suitcase, and an old suitcase at that, they might think she was weird, so my friend did what any sane person would do she turned and ran back down the steps and got on the next train back to the house.  


so you can see why i found myself laughing whilst putting my dad in the boot so that no-one would steal him in his expensive looking gift bag from the passenger seat of my car while I was at my appointment with my grief counsellor.....................  actually it was my first and last appointment with her as she just didn't get me or my sense of humour,  however the ladies in the Boots Opticians have eaten out on this story for months and were much more helpful in me getting over my loss......  so from me a big thank you to them.  Hope you have enjoyed how i got from a dog in a suitcase to my dad in the boot

The Great Princess Castle Birthday cake part 2

Stage one the Base, covered in buttercream

OK well the great Princess castle birthday cake continues we left off last time with the cakes made and ready for icing.  This is the maideria cake covered in vanilla buttercream ready for the sugar paste in pastel pink to cover it.  


I also had bravely decided to place the castle in its one grounds and have a moat, yeah i know.


so first of all i needed a cake board and this had to be strong, so a tray that my grand-father had made was dusted off from my mums larder and washed and covered in clingfilm ready to be made into the grounds.
 we started with the lawns, 

the lawns

the I looked at the moat and had a big discussion on what colour the moat should be, then i rummaged in the kitchen draw to find something that I could use to make flowers and grass, which i made out of a star cutter and a christmas tree cutter that i used only one side of,  then i rolled some read icing and made the centre of the flowers,  it looked pretty good i thought.




then it came time to position the castle base once it had been covered in the pink sugar paste, that i made from scratch!!!,  It was really easy as i followed the directions in the Lindy Smith book that my darling biker boy bought for me.  

then I had to make doors and windows for my castle 

then i had to work out a way to make a drawbridge

then it was time to make the lilac sugar paste to do the next level 

then finally the morning of the party and the birthday girl safely off to school, the towers and the princess and the prince were added to the castle 

The smile that was on the face of the birthday girl when she saw the cake was worth all the hard work.................. and it tasted great too.......... RESULT

MGB GT > Baby in 8 weeks

The Dream Car - MGB GT V8 in British Racing Green

 Well to the left you can see my beautiful MGB GT V8 in british racing green (we won't mention the interior) I bought this in May 2004,  Me and the Biker Boy had been as they say Up North trying for a baby, but due to medical complications and the fact that i was fast approaching the Big 40, things didn't look good, and as i have an aversion to needles, hospitals and doctors the IVF route was NOT an option.  


The medical issues had eft me feeling pretty low, and as the patter of tiny feet was no longer an option we decided that it was time to stop being sensible and do something with our hard earned cash, and the subject of a sports car was raised, so biker boy never being one to let the grass grow when it comes to spending money on silly stuff raced to the shop to buy an Auto- trader (car magazine) now this comes out on  thursday and in most cases by saturday nothing of any note is still available, but hey we were only looking!  so biker boy began looking.


We agreed that it should be nothing to new, as they weren't really sports cars, as to many were driven by Footballers Wives, so something classic was the choice, and he found one, in our price range and local, "it will have gone" i said, but we rang anyway and no it was still there, so a couple of phone calls to a work colleague (rick)  who has a classic car and a steam Engine (whole other story) and we were in the car and on our way to view the beast.


It was gorgeous, and rick put his hands in to all the important little places that lady rust can hide and she was fine, so it was time for the test drive, once round the block and the grin on my face went from ear to ear, "yep your going home with this" said rick she has the silly grin!.


So that was the end of April and our love affair with the Beast began, and we showed her off to everyone, and as Biker boy only has a bike licence - lots of people did a double take at a GIRL driving such a beast.


In May we had another visit to the hospital and this time for a Lady Op i won't bore you with, but suffice it to say that cells in naughty places weren't doing what they should and needed removing and where as we had been "trying for a Baby" now that was a Restricted area, well for a minimum of 8 weeks the doc joyfully said!!!
So much discomfort and tears, but a shiny new car May was a month of take our mind off things and get out in the car, and we did we went to Llandudno, and to Cheshire to a steam rally, and just to the shops because we could.  Then finally the results were back and it was good news things looked ok and we could resume normal service, and it was a bank holiday weekend, and there was a free concert in the local park and the sun was shining and the wine was flowing . DOT. DOT  DOT. as they say in Mama Mia.


Biker Boys Brother - Lord R invited us down for the weekend as it was his kids school fete and they were having a BBQ and fund stuff, so me, biker boy, and WSS (Wicked stepson) two dogs jumped in the big car and headed to Mrs M's *(grandma) as she lived in south wales and would look after the dogs while we got the train to london.  London was hot and sticky but the school fete was great fun, and biker boy and WSS went off to the London Eye while i stayed and enjoyed the house to myself and a good book, then after the school fete, Lord R got out a prized bottle of red and offered me a glass, and this to me smelt like vinegar and made me want to gag, but that is not polite so I struggled on slipping to the kitchen to empty my glass and top up with Vimto, excusing myself to read the kids a story and go to bed early.  The following day the train journey was torture as everything smelt really strongly, and i mean everything,  i felt sick constantly, and when we got back to MRs M even the smell of my little dog made me feel ill and we still had to get back up north.   


The journey was HELL on wheels and by monday i was sure i was going to die, but went to work anyway, and was sat in the office when one of my colleagues walked in (a Midwife, Health visitor and now the Infant feeding advisor for the borough) smiled at me through the window, stopped turned and looked at me again and then exclaimed "DEAR GOD YOUR PREGNANT"   I looked up at her in shock, what NO don't be stupid you know my history jo, i said with tears in my eyes, next thing i was being marched to Boots (other pharmacy's are available) and a pregnancy test being purchased.  She even made sure it was one that actually said YOU ARE PREGNANT not one with a colour code,  and HOLY C**P i was pregnant!!!!!!!!!!   my first words were, "but i just bought a sports car!"    Then " i need to phone Biker Boy"  lots of tears and Nine months of HELL (but thats a whole other story)  

Biker boy and His Biker Babe

The most precious gift was delivered and for my 40th Birthday I had a 7 month old baby girl,  Miss Boo,  who i think you can see from the pics  is worth all the trauma.

The 2nd thing I never knew i always wanted

The Great Princess Castle Birthday cake part 1

Well I have embarked on my biggest challenge as a mother yet - to make a Princess Castle Birthday cake for Miss Boo, who will be 7 at the end of Febraury.


I have reviewed many websites to see what others who have gone before me and taken up the challenge have done, and feel safe in the thought that well i can't do much worse than they have.
The first stage was the making of the towers (princess castles have to have to have towers otherwise how can the handsome prince rescue them), the advice from the all knowing web was two fold, firstly icecream cones the small flat bottom ones for little hands covered in chocolate, which was simple enough and very tasty, as the expanding waist line of my work colleages show, but a bit bob the builder not princess like at all really.


so on to choice number two, this involves something called pastillage icing (yeah i'd never heard of it before either) have now though and i have made it from scratch!!!  ( i know your impressed)  well hang on to your hats i not only made it from scratch but coloured it pink and made 4 small towers with diamond windows cut into them!!!!!


The look amazing and have dried without cracking and i have removed the cardboard tubes without damaging them, they are now at Mrs M's (grandmas) drying ready to have there pointy roofs put on them.


Now have to move on to the castle itself, well that is simple i hear you say just make the cake, but this has to be a large cake as it has to have layers, and i have never made a cake that big before.    The internet though helpful is not easy to cuddle up to in bed and pour over each little detail, turning the page upside down to get a better look at how they did the top etc is not easy either, so it was off to the good old library and the cooking & baking section, and the finding of the cake decorating book, with all the answers.


It showed not only the equipment you need, but gives you the quantities for specific size cake tins, for maderia cake and chocolate cake, and a fruit cake, also proper instructions on how to make the decorations for the cake.


so today was the making of the maderia cake for the bottom layer and the chocolate cake for the centre layer, however the jury is out on what to make as the top layer (the tower in which the princess who is being made out of Modelling icing paste) will be awaiting her prince charming.  


so once they are cooled, tomorrow will be the big cover it with pink icing and try out the tower positions, taking pics along the way so we can do all this again this time next month.   oh yes did I mention the birthday isn't till the end of Feb.


so keep your fingers crossed for me, and look out for pics of the trail run later this week.

Stay home mum or got to work and be sane?

Anyone who knows me, will be aware of the mental torture i put myself through since having miss boo, and whether i was a good mum or not.  


Well i took half term off this year so that miss boo could play host to some of her friends as i work full time and in this day and age some people frown on little girls playing in s house with only daddy to look after them, miss boo had been desperate to have a friend from school over to play.   This week has seen miss boo play host to not 1 not 2 but 3 of her friends,  i am glad to say on separate days, so the week has flown by, the house filled with the sound of little girls screams, giggles, and tears and tantrums and the smell of mummy baking a variety of cookies and cakes to share.  
It has been just like in the glossy magazines and very twee, and SO NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!


I have found myself arguing with the radio, chatting with the cats about world events, even enjoying the NEWS for goodness sake, everything has been washed and ironed, it is like an alien has landed and taken over my house.
Still Monday and everything will be back to normal, i will be off to work at the nuthouse, and miss boo at school everything will be hectic, the washing piled up then the ironing and tea will be what ever i can lay my hands on as i get home!   PHEW...........


So my words of wisdom for all those who torture themselves, remember these words, as long as your happy your child will be happy to have a happy you!!! than a grumpy insane you!  so do what makes you happy and SOD what anyone else thinks!!!!!!!!! :}

Macaroons - YUK Almonds who would have thought!!!

I have recently been watching the great British bake off, a simple premise for a feel good programme, Paul and Mary being wonderful and even when they had to say something was bad, they were so nice about it, and made the contestants feel OK about the comments.  Any way I digress,  I decided to have a go at some of the things i had seen on the show, on of which being Macaroons,  i purchased the ingredients and read and re read the recipe - (not a usual trait)  and set about making my first ever macaroons,  they were to be pink to please my 6 year old whisking and beating went on for several hours and finally they went into the oven, 12 minutes later and after a little cooling - my first taste of my not to bad looking macaroons, ..........
YUK they taste of almonds and like those awful amaretto biscuits my mother loves except without the alcohol !!!  it then occurred to me that the ingredients had included ground almonds amongst the egg white and icing sugar............ but i had expected them to taste like they looked like tiny meringues..... man was i disappointed!   still learnt something valuable, ground almonds make things taste of almonds.   I think i will stick to making the victoria sponge and vanilla biscuits and put thoughts of Great British Bake off out of my head,  although i can say the golden syrup cake from the pink whisk website is MEGA and definatly doesn't taste of almonds!!!!!!!