Lucky, Lucky, Lucky...

You humans must think we're daft. You sit in your cafes, wander along beaches, write your blogs and assume we don't have a clue. A sniff, a pee, a pooh and some food and we're happy...you think. Did you seriously realise that the plot to

Obesity worse than smoking - so say doctors

So, does this mean I can start smoking again? I think not.

But there is a lot in the media here about how a very high proportion of the population are overweight and the majority (of the population) will be classed as obese in a few years time. The lead in to these stories is that 'obesity is worse for health (I suspect the NHS coffers) than smoking'. I think now they feel they have smoking under some sort of control then the next thing on the list is bad diets and obesity. Lets hope they don't bottle out (the way they did with the Tobacco companies) and do make the food companies change their practices.

So, I suppose you don't really want to hear what I've been eating, do you? Well, what I will say is that it has been relatively healthy - apart from a couple of visits to an Indian restaurant - and that it is really easy to get healthy, take away and food to go here now. I have been having a lovely time!

Macbeth was - as you will see from my previous comment - excellent, with a splendid cast of actors, some scary special effects and three quite spooky witches in nurses uniforms.

I had a drink with Jan yesterday, and it was good to see her before I go. But her mother is in her final stages of dying and so we could not spend too much time together since she had to get back to relieve Ed who has been looking after Lee while Jan is at work. Jan says she is very lucky to have had this time with her mother and both she and Lee have had long discussions and wish Lee would simply go to sleep and not wake.

Today feels a bit like waiting to start a journey. The flight is at 9pm and I have kept my room till 5pm and will leave at 4.45. But I feel restless and can't settle to anything. All the bags are packed, I just have to have lunch and then a quick shower and I'll guess I'll be ready about 2 hours ahead of time. I think I better get something to read!

This is the end of this blog - till I travel again. Thanks for logging on, reading, commenting. Talk to everyone soon I suspect. In the meantime, love and hugs all round. Ann

Lovely London

Hello everyone. I do hope all is well with all of you and yours. I am in London now after a rather difficult week in Skopelos. It was entirely my own fault, I did it to myself and have no one to blame but myself. I have always hoped that when I go in the last week of the season that I will not meet a vulnerable animal(s). Well this year was one of those years when there were a family of kittens and mother around and I just got very stressed about them and how they would survive the winter. Although I tried, and my friends tried in various ways to ensure their survival it looked not only that we would not succeeed, but that I was also in danger of losing my good friends over this feline family.

But, when the going gets tough you do really find out who your friends are and I ended the week not only with all my friendships intact and the kittens futures ensured but two of my friends who had not been close for some time seem to have resolved some difficulties to the extent that I wish for them what they give to me.

And Skopelos is still beautiful.

Now I am in London having stayed (and shopped) with Candice - thank you Geoff for taking me to the hotel and I am sorry not to have been able to say goodbye to you. I have had dinner with Maggie and Steve and am trying to track down Jan so I can have a final lunch with her. But tonight I go to what has bveen called the very best production of Macbeth - with Patrick Stewart (Star Treck) and am looking forward to that. Meantime I am off to do a bit of my own trecking - around London.

It has been a great trip and wonderful to have seen everyone here and I am so looking forward to seeing everyone on my return. Someone asked me the other day 'Which do you prefer NZ or England' and I had to say that I loved them both and would be very happy to stay in either. I love things about each area (and Skopelos) - scenery, animals, nature, culture, - and I have good friends in each (so I always miss someone!). But I do feel I am truly blessed to know all of you and know you are all 'on my side'.

So, I am off to do, hopefully, the last bit of serious shopping!!! Have fun my dears. Love - lots of it - to all. Ann

A bit hit or miss

Mmmmm - well, this BLOG might get to you or it may not. This is the first time I have got as far as actually being able to type something in. The reason for this is that - it is all Greek to me - literally. Everything else on the screen is in Greek apart from what I am typing (and when I first started using this machine, even my tytping was in Greek - which was no good at all since there is no literal translation!!!). So, it is a bit hit or miss whether this will actually get to you.

Yes, the island is magical as always. I wondered whether I would feel like that or not. NZ is beautiful, there is sea, sand, sun, beautiful landscape and so I wondered not only why I was going to Skopelos but whether it would 'work' for me. Well I wasn't here 10minutes before I knew. There is something about the island that just melts myheart. I don't expect this would happen with anyone else - but it does with me. So, it will be no hardship to be here for a week.

I have been out with both Mimi and with Heather and it is splendid to see both of them. I have plans to see each again and in fact I shall have lunch at Panarmos with Mimi today and dinner with Heather this evening. Tomorrow I have the keys for Mimi's new house in Glossa and so shall beetle up there in my little red jeep tomorrow and spen the night there. I am so looking forward to it - I want to see the stars in the Northern hemisphere in all their glory. So I am hoping for a cloudless night tomorrow.

I have done all the things I expected to, I have visited Glisteri and swam/snorkelled, had coffee at Stafilos, lunch at Agnondas (although all tavernas are closed so I took my own lunch); I have visited the monasteries, driven the roads I like etc , eaten my fill of good Greek food - all the things I wrote about last time and won't bore you by repeating.

The island is closing down for the winter, so many places that I would normally frequent have shut up shop already. Partly this is because everyone on the island has made enough money early this year. There was a film crew here for most of the summer - they were filming Mama Mia with Peirce Brosnan and Meryl Streep - and the money they had to spend far outweighted anything a horde of tourists could offer. But I like the island quiet so it suits me fine. It is interesting to be almost the only tourist here. It is also interesting to go out with Mimi now she is a councillor in the local government - everyone wants to speak to her! Very interesting.

OK sweets, I am off to lunch now. Bye for now. Love & hugs. Ann

Ann sends her regrets

Ann had a great start to her visit. Beautiful weather, going out with people, swimming, even seeing a Daisy lookalike. Unfortunately, however, the island's internet cafe (which has another Daisy lookalike), has closed for a week or so and Ann might be out of contact. She's going hunting for alternatives, but it's a small island! So we'll have to wait and see.

Getting ready to go to Skopelos

Candice and Geoff are at work and I am home alone (!) However, the most mischief I will get up to is packing the wrong stuff in the wrong bag. I am having a general tidy up today and tomorrow because when I return from Skopelos (Friday 12th) I am off to London on the 13th for the remaining time till I leave on the 17th for Auckland (Candice says there is a shop she just MUST show me on the Saturday!). So, I am making sure all clothes are clean, packed ready and waiting.

I had a very pleasant weekend with Ed and Jan, visting Jan's mum, Oxleas woods, Blackheath farmers Market. They are such a very pleasant couple to be with, very gentle, caring and thoughful. Jan is now vegan so I fed very well and felt better for even two days of good vegan food.

We went to town for dinner on the Saturday evening (wonderful dosa's Elisabeth) and coming over Blackfriars bridge the city looked absolutely beautiful. But, even better, when we were leaving and all the lights were on, it looked fabulous and magical. I never fail to be impressed by the view of London from the river either upriver or down, there is always something interesting to see. Jan and I will be getting together, probably for lunch, before I leave for Auckland since she works in town.

We were visited each evening at Ed and Jan's by the foxes who come to the garden to feed. There are two adults and the cubs of one of the adults. Foxy - the mother of the cubs is unafraid and I have some lovely pictures of her. Talking of pictures, I am totally frustrated at not being able to post pictures for you to see as I go around. The lead (from the camera to the computer) is not working and so I bought a card reader (where you put the memory stick from the camera into it/it is plugged into the computer via a USB lead) but this does not load onto Candice's computer - and in fact caused a major problem when I tried to load it. So, sorry, no pictures till I get home.

Yesterday i spent the day at Rowhill grange being pampered. A swim (25-30 lengths), a spa, a jacuzzi; time for tea and a relaxing read before my facial, then lunch and lastly the hairdressers. Blissful.

Last night I had dinner with the Leharnes who were as rumbunctuous as ever and kept me entertained for a good few hours. Thomas has done brilliantly in his GCSE's and is going on to do A Levels before going to University. He says Cambridge to do Environmental Chemistry/Geography. A bit like his father I think. Rebecca is, as always, Rebecca, indomitable, cheerful, funny and full of life. Lovely to be with, as is the whole family. Steve and Maggie are coming up to meet me on the Sunday after I come back from Skopelos.

Tonight I will have dinner with Andy and Lena the father and mother of Eleni, who came to stay with her boyfriend Paul last year - some of you will remember? I am looking forward to this since I haven't seen Andy since we left England in 2003.

Now I am off to book tickets for the theatre for when I return from Skopelos. Mmmm Patrick Stewart in Macbeth? I've seen the RSC Seagull and King Lear in Auckland so no point is going again. Ah, well, pleasures to come.

And then, my dear, it is off to Skopelos for me - where, I hope, the next blog will be from. Till then, take care of each other. Lots of hugs. Ann

In the interests of cross-speciesism

Woof, woof, woof te kana, woof woof.

I can tell you about this species called humans. I can tell it in my language, perhaps they will understand, perhaps not. But I know YOU will.

Tail wag, tail wag - welcome.
Dance-woof-woof - walk.
Bark-woof - sausage - dribble dribble.
Tertiary education - snore, snore.
Pant, pant smile - treats
Grrrrr, growl - Blobs
Huh, Huh, Huh - meat, quick
Cringe, hide - bath - Ugh!

Simple folk these humans - what more do you need to know!

Signed: High Princess Mordomenia (commonly known as Daisy)

I wonder

I often wonder what on earth Madam and the Caretaker are talking about. Cyberspace...the Unconscious...Rights and Responsibilities...Existential this and that...CSI...They sometimes discuss quite unintelligible things such as the the tertiary education commission, strategic development, capital/debt ratios, transferable skills - well he does, as she nods off seeking solace in a glass of pinot gris. Transferable skills, for example...what might they be I ponder. Well,actually, now I know. You learn how to do a blog defending canine rights (very successfully, I might add) and then you transfer that skill into reflecting on the day to day life of probably the world's most beautiful dog.

So today I'm feeling very suspicious as to why the Caretaker is looking so cheerful. It can't be the weather - sadly, his very favourite subject - because we have been having an horrendous storm. It can't be the food - sadly his second favourite subject - as even he seems to be getting bored with peanut butter sandwiches and icecream. It's not the company of me and the Blob - she tells me she has been making him very anxious by the strategic placement of bird feathers around the house so that he spends half his time looking under chairs and behind cupboards. If he looked carefully he would see that the Blob is blobbier than usual. It could, of course, be quality assurance in tertiary education - a subject which, very, very, sadly, makes him almost orgasmic - but, according to his diary, that's a week on Thursday. The most likely thing is that it's me...the most perfect companion, golden, gorgeous, graceful...but that would apply all the time. Humanoids are very strange. Blob and I often say, I wonder what they're thinking. If only they could tell us. Do you think they have emotions? Why are they so obsessed by food? Do they do anything without a reward? I wonder. If any of you can help us understand, we would be very grateful.

Millennium Clock

Before I forget - I went to the museum in Edinburgh (the olderst in Britain apart from the London ones) and saw their Millennium clock - fabulous. I've added a web address here (and also on the side panel) so you can have a look at it:

http://freespace.virgin.net/sharmanka.kinetic/clocktower/

I thought it was quite the most amazing thing I had seen for ages and hope you find it interesting too.

A beautiful day in London - warm and sunny and quite unseasonal. I am off to enjoy it - have fun today friends. Love as always. Ann

EXTRA, EXTRA, EXTRA - Hostilities are called off in the matter of Daisy vs unLucky

I surrender, absolutely and abjectly!! Please do no harm to my friends - they were only trying to counsel me. I will pay any reparation you decide on my return and promise not even to look at another dog (especially in the last week of the season on Skopelos - honest).

Lucky has been informed of the failure of the venture to rescue her again and is quite philosophical about it. She is a bit like me and speeding I think. She has a, mistaken, belief that she will never actually be caught with a sheep between her jaws - and is looking forward to testing that theory. So, I am sure she will be fine (ish).

You can now turn your finely tuned nose up at the flighty Betty and the bad hair Amber and reassure your pal Bentley that no incomers will be taking his place in the sniffing line. So, please, lets call off Woofing, Barking and Snarl and I'll promise no more hard Luck(y) stories - OK?

Your repentant Madam.

Lucky, Lucky, Lucky...

You humans must think we're daft. You sit in your cafes, chat on the beach, write your blogs and assume we don't have a clue. A sniff, a pee, a pooh and some food and we're happy...you think. Did you seriously believe that the plot to replace me would go unnoticed?? That we don't talk to each other? That we don't have just two degrees of separation like the rest of you?

So I'm down at Narrow Neck and that flighty little genetically modified poodle, Betty, comes along, giggling away, doing her Kylie Minogue bit...You're Not So Lucky, Lucky, Lucky. What's going on here, I think as I see her off with a vicious twitch of my nose. And then that lunatic Amber...the wheaten with a permanent bad hair day (tried to eat me once)...comes by with her 'got a new boyfriend then? Aren't you Lucky' An angry raising of the eyebrow gets rid of her, but by now I can see something is up. And my pal Bentley (who is the only one who realises how sensitive I am) confirms it. They're up to something he says.

So when I'm at Sue's and Coralie's I do my cutey bit, sitting near to them when they're on the the computer. Thinking me a brainless blonde, they assume I'm just devoted to them but I see what's going on, the dastardly deed being planned, and even worse voted on. Now I know who my friends are!

So, lets be clear. I've talked to my solicitors - Woofing, Barking and Snarl - and they advise me in the following way:

All negotiations with alternative animals will cease
A public apology will be made in the Flagstaff within two weeks
Compensation will be paid for the hurt and humiliation I have experienced
Those who voted in favour of this Lucky creature should be very very afraid

I can see the Caretaker looking apprehensively at me sitting at the computer, so I will leave it there. Madam may wish to ponder, as she continues her travels around Europe, on what might be suitable recompense on her return

You have all been warned.

Hi Folks,

After spending the weekend with Lucy and Forest in Kent - lovely, lovely Kent - and returning to regroup at Candice's, I flew up to Edinburgh on Tuesday. Boy are my feet sore!!!

It is now Thursday afternoon and I think apart from eating and sleeping this is the longest I have sat down. I am surprised how much I remember of Edinburgh and where places are. It is such an easy city to walk around that it is tempting to overdo it and end up with SORE FEET - as mine are (throb, throb they say). Still, the rest of me is happy so I don't care that they are complaining.

Now, what have I been up to. Well, lets see, on the Tuesday I walked from my hotel, just off the Royal mile, up to the University taking in the Museum and Greyfriars Bobby (the pub, not the little statue in the graveyard). I had a drink in the pub Rob and me used when we lived here - the Meadows - which is totally changed (thank goodness) and now serves a variety of wine - unheard of in the 60's. Then it was through the Meadows and back along George Bridge. I ate at an up-market vegetarian restaurant that evening - but the menu was better than the food (Elisabeth, the dosa was not what we would have enjoyed).

The following day I took myself off into the wilds of West Lothian to revisit my roots. The village I came from was attached to the mining in the area. Now there is no mining and the village has been expanded by Glasgow over-spill. There are new houses being built but every single shop has closed, The Church hall is boarded up, the library gone, I did not see one person on the street and the school - which was the first school I attended - was impenetrable. A nearby, larger town seemed very poor, with grey people, lots of second hand shops, scruffy buildings and surroundings. So, it was a bit of a relief to return to the prosperity of Edinburgh again. I did take a taxi out to my senior school and that, at least, is thriving.

I got off the return train at Haymarket in Edinburgh and made my way past Atholl Crescent, where I had trained as a teacher in domestic science all those years ago. They have long gone now but the crescent remains as imposing as ever. I wanted to visit Charlotte Square and see a house there that they keep in 1790's style. Most interesting, no toilets, no running water, no gas, but sumptuous furnishings and hard, hard work for the servants. On my way back to the hotel I took in the National Art Gallery - lovely Florentine and Renaissance paintings, but not the Whistler I was expecting to see. I asked a taxi driver to recommend a good Indian restaurant and ate there in the evening.

Today has been a bit of a this and that day and not at all what I had planned. I had decided to visit Valvona and Crolla my most favourite deli in the WHOLE world, and that was fab. It still smells just as good, but has expanded to include wine, a gift shop and a cafe - guess where I had my capucinno? Then I wanted to walk the Waters of Leith to dean village, where my mother was born, and thought if I took a bus down Leith Walk then I could begin there. I was not wrong - just about 3 miles out of my way! Still, I began walking and it felt really unsafe - I had asked a young man and a woman with a baby if it was safe to walk the path and they had said yes, but I wasn't sure - especially when the path stopped and I had to walk through industrial areas and the path began again but looked derelict and full of discarded junk. Eventually I came to a bridge and a pub. The barmaid said it was definitely not safe to do this part of the walk so, I had a tonic to revive me and set off - for the nearest bus stop! I got talking to a retired Welsh fireman at the bus stop who said the only bus went to the docks. OK, said I, I'll go there. The docks have been vastly improved and are now the home to all the 'yuppies' in the town. However, I think we got our wires crossed and he recommended I get off miles away and walk! So I got another bus that was going to the centre of the town. Aren't I lucky it stopped at the second vegetarian restaurant that I had been intending to go to - so that was lunch sorted! Now I have found this Internet Cafe and I am as happy as Lucky/Larry.

Personally, I think I have done as much of Edinburgh as I want to. It is a very beautiful city if you look up, but at the ground level it is either very touristy or a bit scruffy. When I was here 20 odd years ago I was impressed by the sense of emerging self identity. There was the new parliament, new art scene and everything felt very vibrant, exciting and progressive. This time it all feels a bit tired. One taxi driver was telling me a story about transport plans which, if true, points to a waste of money but also a lack of political will to see plans through and a bureaucratic mess which makes it difficult to achieve anything. There also seems to be a jaded feel about the ability of politics to be effective in changing social ills. Such a shame, especially after the high hopes and very real initial changes that were put in place by the early parliament.

Ah, well, back to London tomorrow to spend the weekend with Ed and Jan - in the peace of their garden. Talk soon. Love to all of you out there. Ann

Doggone

Dear Daisy, would you mind very much if I brought home this lovely boy dog called Lucky? He is very well trained and apart from a small matter of chasing sheep - which we won't concern ourselves with just at this moment - I think he would be an ideal addition to our household. He is black with a bit of white, he is very obedient, affectionate and very very intelligent, picking up everything you say and I think he would fit in very well. At the moment he lives in the house of Lucy and Fossie with Harry, a West Highland Terrier , and Bernard, a beautiful golden Labrador puppy (about 18 weeks old I think) as well as five cats, with whom he gets on very well. So, when you discuss this with Sissy you can let her know that he is cat trained to purrfection (in fact he could assist you in tipping the scales in your relations with Sissy - you know what I mean?).

There would be no conflict of interest with you because where you like a gentle stroll Lucky loves a big bouncing run - he could run behind the car round and round Ngataringa, no? Again, where you don't care for wet grass Lucky loves nothing more than to run through bush and nettles and the stickier the better for him to bring home presents for his carers. He is very like you in that he too likes to lie just where causes most problem for passing humans. He wouldn't even compete for your food since he has dried food and any forage that the cats bring in (apart from gallbladders, which he does not care for).

Finally, he is in a bit of trouble just now because he was found playing with - well scaring to death - some neighboring farmers sheep (you'd think those sheep would know better and keep out of his way!. So he may have to wear an electric collar - and if that does not work then he may be shot. I, personally, think we should apply for deportation - like they used to do to criminals - and send him to new Zealand. They like hard luck cases there - although they are not to keen on introduced species and so Lucky may have to disguise himself as a Kiwi for the first few months till the local animals get used to him - and I think he would fit right into our household and to NZ in general. What do you think? Will you discuss it with Sissy and get back to me. Time is of the essence - the electric collar beckons. Love. Your human, Ann.