50 Years of Coronation Street

Coronation Street was first broadcast 50 years this week - 6 days before I was born. I remember my Mum watching it when I was a toddler and I suppose I just got sucked into it. It's not the most glamorous of soaps but it's like a nice warm cosy blanket, and that's why I'll be glued to this weeks episodes. Just watched the explosion and tram crash, so we're trying to work out who's not going to survive. So far in the running to die are Ashley, Max, Molly, Rita, Sunita, Peter, Ciaran, Graeme, Fiz's baby and of course bunny boiler Charlotte has already been dispatched by John.

There's a live episode on Thursday and I'm so upset because I'm on a very rare night out - an early birthday night out in fact - never mind will have to catch in on ITV net.

More snow

1st of December and there is more snow chaos - it takes hours to get to work and back and I just feel knackered by the time I get home.

On a lighter note it's only 15 days till my 50th birthday - I always imagined I would have a great big party with loads of old music and lots of dancing - it hasn't panned out that way for various reasons, so there's a good chance it will pass by like a wet Sunday!

Snow

The snow has arrived! I've been away from work this week looking after Jason who's just had surgery and now the snow has arrived. The bin men couldn't get into the street to empty the bins and today we had no post deliveries either. Last night there was so much snow that the sky was white and it didn't get as dark as usual. I managed to take some photos around midnight - hand held camera, no flash!

The passing of time

I was at the funeral of an old school friend last week, I'd known her since I was 12 years old and we were very close at school. Even though we saw each other infrequently after leaving school I always considered her a good friend.

I never thought I would be attending her funeral at what I still consider to be a young age - her teenage daughters are the spitting image of her as a young girl and when I saw them I was transported back to the 1970's.

The church was full of her family, friends and colleagues - she was that sort of person - you couldn't not like her. Other old friends from school were there, we sat united in grief but still with an air of disbelief - how could she go, suddenly we were all being confronted by our own mortality and it was a little frightening.

I feel as though her departure has left a little gap in my life and now I have to cling to fond memories and old photos - R.I.P. Sue

Harvest Moon

The Northern Autumnal Equinox and the Harvest 'full moon' both occur today which is a rare occurance. It hasn't happened since 1991 and they won't fall together at the same time again until 2029.

A mixed day today - The 30th Great North Run took place - everyone did very well.

The Great North Run

It was also the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain - there was a service at Westminster Abbey and a Spitfire and Hurricane flypast.

BBC News

And lastly it's 'Talk Like a Pirate Day'!

As well my own seven cats we get the odd neighbourhood cat turning up to eat our cat food. An un-neutered ginger and white tom often ends up on our doorstep, I don't know who owns him or what his name is so we call him 'Big Ginge'. He's a lovely natured cat but his one big fault is that he sprays if he gets in the house - not good.

Half way through September and it feels like autumn already, the leaves on the trees are turning yellow and children have started to collect conkers.

During the Summer Sarah grew some lovely sunflowers, unfortunately the snails also loved them and chewed all the leaves.

I managed to get a few snaps with my new camera - I'm still getting to grips with it so pictures are a bit hit and miss.

I had a mammogram today - part of the NHS breast screening programme. Probably not the usual stuff for a blog but it was the first one I've had and must have been devised by a man - why else would you think it was a good idea to stuff sensitive parts of your body between two plates then attempt to squash them flat! I notice they don't do this for testicular screening...lol

I'm trying to get the hang of the new Blogger templates so the appearance of my blogs might change from week to week until I can find something I'm happy with. Any constructive comments will be appreciated.