I have started paying particular attention to the King since he became the new Monarch. For a man who it is alleged has someone to put toothpaste in his toothbrush, he often looks untidy with overgrown hair. Surely, he is not struggling to get an hair appointment like us his humble subjects??!! I sincerely hope that it is not too late for him to take a leaf out of his late parents books.
Here in the Vicarage, we are very privileged to own a dishwasher. I don’t know how I would cope without it!
I don’t wish to insult your intelligence.but what do you put in yours? I put in dishwasher safe cutlery and crockery but reading the papers last week told me that some people have got very different ideas. According to the article, there was a big hoo ha on Mumsnet (the forum for parents) after a woman wrote to say that she puts her loo brush in the dishwasher! By the way, I don’t own a loo brush as I don’t consider them too hygienic!
Since then I have also discovered that people put their trainers and dog collars in the dishwasher . Have you heard about anyone cooking their salmon in the dishwasher? Apparently that happens too.
We were due to go on a short holiday last week. The Mhinisteir was looking and sounding tired so I was quite relieved that we had this holiday to look forward to. Monday came and we were due to leave after the Mhinisteir had finished his meeting. Unfortunately, I was all over the place on Monday morning. Furthermore, I felt that the Mhinisteir was rushing which he never does. As we hit the road, I started wondering if I had turned off the iron??!!! It was not a good start. The Mhinisteir assured me that he had checked and that all was good.
We stopped halfway for lunch at a Thai place. Unfortunately for me the order for non spicy noodles got messed up and the noodles turned up fiery which of course I couldn’t eat – we never said anything to the staff. My stomach was on fire. We arrived at our holiday destination and were just about to enter the cottage when the Mhinisteir remembered that he had left ALL his shirts behind!
We decided to go for a nice walk and came back with some lovely desserts. Just as we were enjoying our desserts, we heard a long beep coming from the hallway. I went to check and assumed that it was the smoke alarm needing a battery and so we decided to ignore it. During the night, it beeped a couple of times but there was really nothing that we could do.
The next morning, there was a knock on the door the moment we opened our eyes. The Mhinisteir went to open the door in his pyjamas as he had also forgotten his dressing gown! It was some guy wanting to service the boiler. I was slightly irritated. Who in their right mind arranges for the boiler to be serviced when they have guests staying.???!!!! The boiler servicing guy was bothersome. He kept asking for this and that. I was desperate for some breakfast. An hour or so later, the cottage manager appeared and asked if there was a beeping sound during our stay and we said yes. He told us that the beeping sound came on because carbon monoxide was leaking into the cottage through the boiler which they had discovered to be faulty!!!!!!!! I was so thankful that we hadn’t died in our sleep!!!!!
They said that they will try and find us an alternative accommodation and left it at that. It soon became noon but still no word from anybody. We couldn’t shower because there was no hot water. The Mhinisteir was getting vexed because they had just wasted four hours of our time and still not a peep. We took matters into our own hands and decided to cancel our holiday and head back home. What else could we do?
I am feeling paranoid. It started several weeks ago when I received a letter from some company called the MSE club writing to say that someone had been trying to use my details to set up an account. I have never heard of the MSE club and when I told the Mhinisteir he told me to ignore the letter.
A week or so later, I received a text about someone trying to set up an online payment which led me to phone the credit card company. Regular readers will know that I have had my card details compromised so many times that I thought it was one of those times. However, the questions asked were different and sounded serious. By the time I rang off, I realised that this time it was very serious. Anyway, the card got cancelled once again! After the phone call, I became very nervous because someone had gotten hold of a lot of information about me. I didn’t like that feeling.
Since then, I have also been nervous about making voice calls using internet connection. I do have this fear that someone is listening in! I know it sounds ridiculous but once fear settles in, it is very difficult to shake it off.
Anyway, that’s where I find myself. I just need to learn to be careful without being paranoid.
I love fancy loo rolls – the type that has got fancy little prints on them. They are a little on the pricey side so I don’t put them in all the loos just the downstairs cloakroom that is used by visitors to the vicarage. I usually buy M&S Lavender Toilet Tissue from Ocado the online supermarket. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that they are no longer stocking them! Why??? I have no idea! Instead they are selling ones with Christmas prints which I refuse to buy as they are not versatile!
Our new cleaner came to clean for the second time last week. It is still early days but so far I have found her to be very good. She was a little late in coming but she had already informed me before hand. Like the week before, she just got on with her work while I got on with mine.
When it was time for her to leave, she just left without a word! I heard her start the car and through my study window signalled for her to wait but she thought that I was waving to her!!!! I ran down the stairs like a maniac and shot out through the door all the while shouting Margaret….. Margaret…… Thankfully she was just turning her car round. I once again signalled for her to stop and mercifully she did this time round. Why the panic? Because I hadn’t paid her!!!
She didn’t want the money because she thought that the extra payment the week before included that day’s payment as well. Quite honestly by the time I had finished explaining, I was exhausted. Anyway, she finally accepted the payment which was a relief. I don’t know what her financial situation is but I would have hated for her to go without her payment for the bible says “Each Day You Shall Pay Him His Wages (Deuteronomy 25:15).
When I got back into the house, the Mhinisteir asked me why I kept shouting Margaret, Margaret when her name is CAROL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I might have seen a fox!!!!! It was only recently that I knew that there were foxes in our area after a neighbour reported his cat missing. He is adamant that the fox had killed it. I was sorry that the cat was missing but not at all sorry for my neighbour who is prone to cause mischief!
Anyway, back to the fox. It was about 11pm when I suddenly realised that I might have had my mobile phone in full volume. I had just gone to my study to check when I saw that the security light had come on. When I looked out of the window, I saw a creature running away. It looked bigger than a cat but I couldn’t be sure as I didn’t have my glasses on!!!! What a pity!
How would you like it if someone were to park in your driveway without permission? Well, that is what happens at the vicarage regularly especially when there is a funeral. Regular readers will know that we live next to the church which has ample parking but folk prefer to park in our private driveway. It is quite obvious that the driveway belongs to the vicarage and not the church. Maybe they think it is more prestigious!😀
What gets to me is that they never bother to ask before parking. What is so difficult about asking? It is almost always on these days that we either have the cleaner or the supermarket delivery driver who needs access to the driveway. There have been occasions when even the Mhinisteir has had to park long way away because some genius had decided to park in our driveway and block access to our own driveway!
“Relatively young, not very young as you say” said the Mhinsteir while correcting me. We were talking about our trip to the cathedral when I had said something along the lines of “I am very young…..”. He is right. I am relatively young. I must have gotten carried away.
Anyway, this came about because as mentioned earlier we were talking about our trip to the cathedral a month ago. We were at the cathedral as the Mhinisteir had been invited for a special evensong.
I am not a fan of cathedral evensongs because it tends to go on and on but more importantly they like to do them by candlelight which I dislike as it is very difficult to read and follow the order of service.
Unusually, on this occasion, I did enjoy the evensong even though the choir could have looked less scruffy!
However, there was something in that service that bothered me but I didn’t know what it was. Thankfully after a day of contemplation, I knew exactly what it was – there was hardly any young person! The place was full of OAPs. At this point, I need to apologise to my fellow blogger Granny1947 for once again sounding ageist! By the way, do look her up. She writes candidly about life in South Africa.
I was quite surprised at myself for thinking that way but there really was hardly any young person. Why? English cathedrals are usually in cities where you will see many young people. We saw many on the way to the cathedral but none of them were inside! Why? I don’t really have an answer to that question but all I know is that we need to try harder.
One of the big news here in Britain the last two days has been that one of our former health secretaries who was sacked for breaking the Covid rules when he was in position is going to take part in a reality TV show that takes places in an Australian jungle.
Why is that big news? It is because he is still a member of parliament and while the parliament is still in session, this muppet has decided to take part in a reality TV show which will no doubt pay him thousands. Thankfully, his party has suspended him which I believe was the right decision.
I for one will never understand how he is even an MP after breaking Covid rules. This only came about because someone leaked a video of him to the press canoodling a female in his office. I hasten to add that this woman was not his wife. What infuriated me at that time and still does now is that he was sacked not because of his affair but because he broke Covid rules. He of course left his wife quite soon after the shenanigans.
Is this man tone deaf? The country is going through such a very difficult period with the energy crisis and high inflation. Surely it is his duty to be there for his constituents instead of swanning off to Australia. Did he not even consider the welfare of his own children? Do they (and his ex wife) really want to see him on TV every day after the public humiliation they had to suffer because of his stupid actions?
His excuse…. As a dyslexic person, he wants to raise awareness by taking part in the TV show. Surely one doesn’t need to travel all the way to Australia to raise awareness?!!
Secret Diary Of A Church of England Vicar's Wife 