Bee Orchid's most appreciated articles

Forget Dora, I’m Fran the Explorer lol. A few times, after dropping off my son at Uni, I’ve cut through the housing area rather than go around on the main road. My sense of direction in the UK is particularly poor, however it didn’t let me down, and I found the shop I wanted, and cut out numerous traffic signals and traffic. I say in the UK, because many years ago my then-husband and I visited friends in Canada. He was always ‘lost’ however I always knew where we were, and I said at the time, an…

Each year, in the UK, we have a New Year honours list. This year I’ve decided to make my own list. Top of the list goes to… no surprises, my neighbours. Christmas Eve, around 8pm, they had visitors. They were noisy all night and kept my son awake though I did manage to fall asleep from sheer exhaustion. They woke me about 4 times in the night, generally being raucous. People went out around 5am, and the house was quiet as the grave for the next 24 hours, which was a nice change. Friday night…

Or more correctly, lack of. Apart from walking the dog, and shopping on Thursday, I’ve barely been out for days. It’s seriously dull here, no sunshine, and cold too. Thursday, we had misty drizzle all day long with very poor visibility. I haven’t been up the rigging with laundry for days, and can’t even be bothered whipping the Deckhand. Not that he’s done anything wrong, but he does like the attention to detail LMAO. When the weather is nice, I often take the Ship’s Dog for a second walk, or I’…

Almost a year ago, I bought myself a steamer for the microwave, with gift money from my retirement. Can you believe it’s been almost a year! Anyway, we used it a lot and my son liked it so much that I bought him the same one for when he started university. Yesterday, he sent me a photo of said steamer, showing it had melted in the microwave. He’s used this quite a lot, and never had any issues with it. Used it exactly the same as previously, and it melted beyond use and filled the kitchen with a…

There is a song that has the title Mad dogs and Englishmen. Apparently satirising our unwillingness to take a siesta during the heat of the day. Well, Monday I tried to take a siesta. It was d*mn hot here, and very airless so after lunch I escaped to my bedroom where I listened to the dog pacing downstairs, blaring music, drilling, and some a-hole revving his engine in the street. The final straw was the dog barking at the person who delivered yet more junk mail to our house. After 35 minutes of…

Thursday, I decided to play musical cars. I know, it’s supposed to be musical chairs, but I can’t drive a chair. I took my son to university as usual, and decided I’d go home, allow the day to warm up a little, then go shopping. The day started with a severe frost which took ages to clear off the car, and it was minus 5. Not as bad as some places, I know, however I don’t recall it ever being that cold where I used to live in South Wales. Thursday is usually a good day to shop as for some reason,…

Thursday was the last day of term for my son at university, and thankfully, he finished early. Usually, he’d finish at 6pm, and what started as a 15-minute journey to collect him has recently turned into a 30-minute journey through horrendous traffic. I can only assume it’s due to the looming holidays and late shoppers. I was sat in the car waiting for him, when I espied him talking to a friend who then proceeded to try and give him a hug. My son tried to avoid the hug, not sure why, but capitul…

It’s Monday, and I’m back home after a whirlwind visit to Wales. I’d set off on Saturday, a little before 8am, and had a good journey down with no incidents and not too much traffic. I barely got above 60mph, had a brief ‘comfort’ break, and had a comfortable journey of just under 3 hours. I stopped for petrol and texted my friend that I was almost at the designated meeting place. We’d had a falling-out prior to my move, however in recent times he’s exonerated himself and things are much better…

Okay, that’s something they suggest on a shampoo bottle; however, this seems to be my sleep (or not) pattern as of late. Falling asleep to the neighbour’s TV (how did I manage before?) then being woken by them at stupid O’clock (just for you Gracie) leaving their house and chatting loudly outside whilst they wait for their taxi. Then I fall asleep again, only to be woken around 4:45 by awful pins and needles in my hands. By this time, I’m so p*ssed off I can’t then get back to sleep. Good grief!…

Wednesday was a day of extreme frustration. I chased up my rental application, only to be told it was held up because my landlord hadn’t provided them with a reference yet. I explained that he’d sent me an email Friday, saying he had mailed it, and he’d sent me an email copy. I forwarded it to them and texted the landlord as he wasn’t answering his mobile. I eventually got hold of him and it seems the agent asked for an email reference, and instead he snail mailed it to me on Friday. Talk about…

Today, Thursday, was the Deckhand’s Birthday. 23 years old. Where does the time go? I offered to pay for a meal out, however after last year’s mediocre fayre, and the cost of eating out, he decided we’d stay home. He chose the menu: ribs in BBQ sauce, jerk chicken, coconut rice, and grilled pineapple (made even sweeter as it was free - the checkout man couldn't put it through the till, no matter how many times he tried, so he just gave it to me. Nice!) followed by chocolate brownie gateau (I mad…

Ok, I’ll start by making a ‘sweeping generalisation’ here, in that woman, mostly, are more fussy than men about their hair and who cuts it. I’ve lived here 15 months now, and in that time, I’ve had 3 haircuts which I think is a record, at least in recent times. The first hairdresser, whilst a very good price, left one side of my hair longer than the other; it annoyed me to the point that I took a pair of scissors and cut the longer side to match the other shorter side. I then tried a different h…

After almost a month, I finally have the decision on whether I qualify for any financial assistance. They’ve had me attend numerous appointments, provide 2 months’ worth of bank statements, asked why I paid a lot of money to a certain group – it’s my credit card bill, asked details of what was on it, asked about my pension – all details I had given T at our initial interview. I has been passed onto J as T was going on holiday, and it seems he was so focussed on his holiday that he neglected to c…

Something I’d posted to a comment on a previous blog, made me think about times I’ve genuinely laughed out loud, or smiled at a situation. Decades ago, my husband and I bought a house, and also had an allotment just a few miles away. The plot had been left fallow for a while and the soil wasn’t great, so we dug in some cow manure that my father-in-law knew of. This was really old manure, didn’t smell at all, and it had the biggest worms in it. We bought a ‘drum’, drilled some holes in it to a…

On Tuesday, I had a great haircut; the first one this year I think though I’m not certain. Working like a dog, there was little time for frivolities such as a haircut! My son and I then had photos done in a Tardis-like photo booth. Him for an ID for when he leaves for university, me for a passport renewal. Good grief mine was bad. I look so tired. I had one done a few months back and looked awful, so this time I put on some makeup and a bright blouse to give me some colour. Better, but not good.…

The past week has been physically challenging. I’ve been tidying shelves and replenishing stock on shelves that reach from the floor to well over my head height. I can legitimately state that I can’t do the top shelf unless they have a special steps for me, but the lower shelves, that require kneeling down, I can’t very well state that I’m too old; I’m on probation for quite a number of months, so have to grin and bear it, but my knees are complaining. Still, it beats being held hostage on the t…

No, it’s not a euphemism, or a profanity, it’s a description of what this pirate has been doing this past 2 days. The rain has finally stopped, a breeze has picked up, and the sun has finally shown itself. Friday was cloudy with sunny spells and a good breeze so the bedding was hoisted onto the rigging. Dried like a charm! Saturday was a fine day, and it was a day for dark clothes, followed by a towel load. Sunday has dawned bright and breezy again so more towels are in the machine to be hoisted…

Despite sleeping a lot better recently, this week the Klutz Gene has been working overtime. I’ve twice walked into the bookcase in the living room. One time just a graze from the corner, the other time I must have walked heavily into it and actually cut my shoulder on the corner. Just a small cut, but man did it bleed. Taking an oven tray out of the oven, I managed to touch my other arm with the tray, no idea how, and was ‘treated’ to a thin burn more than 2 inches long. To add insult to injury,…

The Matriarch is still in hospital, and whilst there has been some improvement, I’m still unclear if they will send her home soon. A nurse was asking all sorts of questions about her home life and between my Mother and I, we managed to answer them. This suggests maybe they are planning to send her home? She’s been moved 3 times whilst on the one large ward, and now she’s on a totally different ward at the far end of the hospital. Seriously, it must be at least a mile’s walk from the car park, an…

It’s turned cold here, as forecast, and no mistake. We had some rain, then a few nice sunny days, and now we’ve had a hard frost the past two mornings and even some flurries of snow on Saturday. In October. Good grief! According to Yahoo, the UK has had one of the coldest October days in a decade. I believe it. Saturday, I put the heating on low and left it on all day. The Deckhand and I are ‘manfully’ fighting off a cold, and despite both wearing 3 layers indoors, we were feeling the chill. Cup…