Tuesday 31 March 2009

I'm sorry...

...for the dearth of new beads over the last few weeks. Between waiting for the phone to ring, jumping when it does, and not being able to concentrate on anything remotely like work, there has been a distinct lack of new items.

In this time I have had an order....which I've now completed, and the last of that is waiting to be cleaned and threaded. So hopefully Friday should see me happily back on the torch making items for my shop.

Saturday...rather than disappearing down the M3 to Southampton to watch my team, I'll be going north to Norfolk with my daughter in law, her Mum and my younger son's partner, to have a day away from all things football related...we're doing the girlie shopping bit! So if you're in the vicinity of Swaffham, Fakenham...and King's Lynn, beware of a red mini with four women in it....I'm the devil behind a wheel!

Monday 30 March 2009

The cost...

...of following football, even non-league football is definitely a challenge for most supporters.

If...when...we move, our local clubs will be Fakenham Town (The Ghosts) of the Ridgeons Football League of which they seem to be bottom...not an unrecognisable position for a Charlton fan. Though they do have games in hand. They support the full range of ages, plus reserves and an A team. Unfortunately the ladies could not compete this season. Next is Swaffham Town (The Pedlars), Fakenham's closest rivals in towns and league...it being an East Anglian one.

The next is King's Lynn FC (The Linnets), who are in the Blue Square North league. They also support the whole range of ages, plus reserves and A team. They do have a ladies team, which won even though they could only raise ten fit players last match. I read with interest their prices for season tickets are being held...an adult in the stand will be charged £205 , otherwise it's £175 for the ground ticket, or £10 at the gate...concessions and children are less.

Football at any level is expensive...we wait to see what ours will be...

Closest league team?...Norwich City....

I wonder what Holt Rugby Football club charge?!

Thursday 26 March 2009

Is it too...

...ott to shout from the rooftop? Maybe a little early?!

We've agreed our sale and purchase...of course, that's just the start...now we have to go through the surveys and searches...but, it's a start! Though I'll only believe it's happened when I have the key in my hot little hand, and I'm standing inside the house.

Fingers crossed!

Wednesday 25 March 2009

I read...

...with interest the dissection of my team by other supporters. The, who they think (and want) to stay and those who are out of contract and they'd...like is too strong, but would think will be let go....or not stood in the way of.

Going into League One does mean we have to cut our cloth, and that means the playing staff...as well as the back room, and (general) staff will be cut... We did it when we came down from the Premiership.

Stewarding....if areas are closed because of less regular support, then even supervisory staff will not be needed, plus the stewards themselves...even temporarily employed ones. Any local derbies can be looked at on an individual basis.
Office staff....it's another section that will be looked at.
Management and coaching...we might sustain them for a year...but with finances available in this league and a reduction in price, plus purchase of season tickets...I can't see it being left alone for long.
Playing staff...we have to be left with a core of a team willing to work, fight and scrap, to get us back in the season. If we don't then I think we'll be there for awhile. It would be nice to think that some feel they owe us something...(like Zhi did when we first got relegated). I can see though that some players will be chased by other Championship teams, plus those being promoted into the league, some might prefer to go home, rather than (even if somehow self inflicted) the ignominy of not featuring at all. Plus, even if they don't feel they owe it to us...the fans, they owe it to the people who work for the club...those other staff...their colleagues who have no influence on how they play...that go to work daily, just so we can all enjoy our Saturdays.

You know...

...I'm going to write a book about this house move malarky. After a night of restlessness, and a days fidgeting...I spoke to the Norfolk agent late yesterday afternoon. It seems the other viewer...couldn't raise the finance, so cannot proceed....which basically leaves us (at present). The only issue is....having told that to their vendor...she now can't get her head around the drop in value of properties over the last eighteen months...and the last eight months imparticular. She's been told we've had to drop as much and more, to make this work...but, she doesn't do anything speedily...and to keep asking her could sound like bullying...and no one wants that.

So, we're waiting again...and hoping our remaining offerer hangs in there with us.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

It's strange...

...how life turns somersaults on you.

Friday things with the house looked positive, with only the lady whose house we like, wanting to view the one she likes again (which she did). Now? One of our offerers has lost his job...as we knew him a few years ago, and this was to be he and his wife's first house...I feel for them, he's a nice young man and didn't deserve that. But, then who does and it's happening to far too many. That was my morning phone call...then, the agent in Norfolk phoned...it seems another long ago viewer phoned on Saturday and told them they're still interested, no offer, no nothing...but...the thought of more money talks... All we had to do if we got a yes, was pick the phone up to the solicitor...we were that close. And thinking over my conversation...for them it'd be a holiday home.

Monday 23 March 2009

A windy...

...and quite chill morning...





...these dancing heads greeted me. Not long before the other joys join them.

Sunday 22 March 2009

Blackheath Addicted: Please Stay Therry

Blackheath Addicted: Please Stay Therry

A special...

wish for all mothers this Mothering Sunday...

Mothers are all slightly insane
J D Salinger



A busy few days have just been had. Yesterday we went to the match. My team played Preston North End...and if they're hoping to be promoted this season...I wouldn't! It won't last long on that performance. We were no better, and a stalemate of 0-0 was the result...others have given a much fairer and true account of the match... Blackheath Addicted


Some players are out of contract at the end of the season, and I hope those who have lost confidence here will find their qualities again somewhere else. No one deserves the abuse hurled at them sometimes, paying public or not!

I'd like to think the young men sitting behind me yesterday knew the game...poor things, we weren't playing a 3-5-2 formation after Butterfield was withdrawn...Bailey slotted back, Shelvey moved across and Dickson joined Kandol. And I thought males had the superior knowledge about the game!

That aside...we are hoping to agree our sale and purchase this week. We now have two buyers for our house, but the lady who owns the house we'd like to buy...wanted to go to view the house she likes again this weekend...my nerves are just about coping, but if you start to see cracks, please don't shout too loudly!


Tuesday 17 March 2009

Of course...

...there's always something else to fall for, and this was one of them...



From Tammy Child the perfect item to complete your special outfit!

And for French linen lovers...Charlotte Casadejus and Katharine Pole





A bit of reclamation...Antiques by Design

Meringuey...

...goodness. In my last post I mentioned a stall at the Country Living Craft Fair selling meringues. Head in the Clouds it seems, has deservedly won an award for being the best new product. Everyone was talking and asking about them, anyone who had one of their bags was being asked by stall-holders and visitors alike were they that dreamy, and they definitely are! We had some of their sample two-somes, one small meringue complemented with a macaroon sandwich of the same flavour. I've tried the rose, mint, orange, clove, and cardamom...so far...only another twenty one flavours to go! I'm trying to resist the pistachio and lime one, until at least after lunch!

And I've just had a surprise...clicking on the site of one of the other leaflets Chase Distillery (you'll be asked your birth date). I was assailed by the music of Holst...with muted views of life on the farm. Now, Holst is a favourite...it stems from my school days when I was about ten and eleven, and I had the most amazing teacher...a Miss Griffiths. She was young, strict, pretty, was also our music teacher...and she drove the most beautiful Mercedes! On certain Saturdays of the year, she would volunteer to take us to London music rehearsals...she was going anyway...she sang in the choir of the Royal College of Music. One time she took us to the Royal Festival Hall, to a rehearsal of that nights performance, and playing was Holst's "The Planet Suite"...the conductor was Sir Malcolm Sargent. There the four of us sat, heads peering over the seat backs watching the orchestra being put through it's paces...quite mesmerized. He unfortunately died soon after of cancer, and the charity was set up in his name. Strangely, we now live not too far from a village where Holst lived...Thaxted, Essex. But the love of that music has always stayed with me...(so has the love of that car!)

I also found there is a website for the linen coats and jackets. Winnie Magee

Monday 16 March 2009

My chair...

...is now sitting in the sunshine of the garden. It's not going to stay there, and it'll be inside tonight.

It needs cleaning off as it's been varnished with coloured varnish at sometime, and needs re-upholstering, so tomorrow I'm off to the DIY store to get the bits needed. I should've gone today, but I'm in the middle of negotiations...(even if this doesn't work, please let this be the last time we try to sell and buy a house).

Yesterday was fun, and I have a lot of little cards to check through. It's amazing how many of those you pick up and are given in the course of a fair. We did come home with little meringues, the company make twenty six different flavoured ones. A bumper crop of Higgledy Pies...last day, last hour goodies...the normal freebies from the sponsors, and my sister bought me a Noddy badge...because when I was little he was my favourite children's programme, and these were handmade.

We found some beautiful linen coats and jackets from Northern Ireland...unfortunately they don't have a website, so I can't show you...but, they're waterproofed, and if the young lady's was anything to go by, didn't have the creasing issue that linen can have. I fell for the raspberry pink ones. So, I can dream!

Sunday 15 March 2009

Now I know...

...my sister won't get here before we meet today. I wanted to show these...



I found them here... Betsy3

A simple but beautifully simple design, I couldn't resist. I've kept the white ones, and am giving the red ones as part of her birthday present.

Saturday 14 March 2009

Our viewer...

...arrived twenty minutes early and was gone before he was due. He came, he looked, he asked questions and had another appointment, so was gone...it was like having a whirlwind visit... You also get paranoid about cars slowing as they pass your house, especially if they turn around and come across for a second look...and are holding a sheet or two of paper. It's a will they? Do they? Are they?

But, the viewer being so early did mean I could turn this on and put on the commentary for my team, and we were doing well...holding our own considering we're playing Wolves and they're top of the league to our bottom space....*and we've just scored!*...I was about to say they scored through our ex player Iwelumo and went into the lead at half-time. Now, it's 1-1...through Zheng Zhi, a player we've been missing nearly all season through injury.

We went to Molineux last season, were able to park the car next to the stadium...but, if anyone ever goes again and it's sunny...take your glasses and a baseball cap. The away fans are positioned in the worst place for the sun direction.

Back to the game...

Having saved a penalty...we lose 2-1...I think that's a better scoreline than some supporters were giving us credit for!

Friday 13 March 2009

About three...

...weeks ago, I lost my heart. Oh, I do have a husband, but I lost it all the same.

In town there's a second hand store, sells things from tables to pots...bits and bobs...but, there amongst it all was something I fell for...an American rocking chair. It needs cleaning down and recovering, but it works without squeaking, has beautiful barley twist wood...and I know the perfect place for it. But if you read, we're trying to move, and can I warrant having another piece of furniture to move?!

Of course it is our wedding anniversary in a months time...and I would do the work it lovingly needs...

Ah well...

Thursday 12 March 2009

This started...

...yesterday, Country Living Craft Fair in the Business Design Centre, Islington, and I'm off there on Sunday with my sister.

A child in a candy store...that'll be me!

Then somewhere nice for late lunch...early tea...

Anyway, I can't wait...she's always fun to be with.

Dear reader...

...do excuse, I've had a revamp!

I liked my layout, but I wanted to move to a softer colour...hence the pre-spring clean.

Now all I have to tackle is the rest...

Suze xx

This morning...

...I wandered around the garden with my camera. A few things were peeking out, apart from the snowdrops which are still showing merrily, and the daffodils which aren't quite open yet...but, here are a few...






1. Sweet Violet
2. Primrose
3. Bergenia (Elephants Ear)
4. Pulmonaria (Lungwort)
5. Helleborus (Stinking Hellebore)

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Tada...

...*drum roll*






Gosh, this exhibiting is hard work!

Anyway, a house update...we did get an offer, on the low side, but that's the second we have floating about. We also have one saying they want to come back for a second viewing, and another viewer on Saturday...so...

Ya know...(as all good interviewees say)...whatever happens, if we sell and move on, or if we don't and we stay here, I'm going to miss my conversations with the agents! They're not all too bad!

Shock...

...horror! We deserved to win! Or that's what the commentary from last nights game said...and yes, the commentator was a 1000 times better than the previous fare. Please can we keep him?!

Reading hit the post and the crossbar, but in the opening period not the net. We did...again through Bailey for his eleventh goal of the season...and at half-time we were on that 1-0 again. The referee then had one of those moments fifteen seconds into the second half, when he saw what nobody else could...a foul inside the box, and awarded a penalty. No need to ask twice and the scoreline was 1-1. A matter of a few seconds later and that same referee had lost his sight, when we weren't awarded a penalty...and it was one, no doubts...the commentator said "he'd bottled it"...I think he just got something in his eye at that second....like the home support! So, again level...and then down to a second. A feeling of de ja vu...but again we scored, and the away fans danced the conger in the stands in joyful glee. (We need these little moments).

The final score being Reading 2 - 2 Charlton for a point...unfortunately Norwich pulled off a win against Cardiff...and how many times are the top teams going to lose to our competitors in the relegation fight?! I watched Look East last night, and the Norwich fans were as despondent as us. I bet they're feeling a whole lot brighter this morning! Now there's ten points between us and the next team...Southampton, and we play Wolves this Saturday!

Tuesday 10 March 2009

I note...

...that the final game of the season has had it's kick off time changed by the Football League. But, hey...what's forty five minutes between friends. I also see it's being touted as a potentially crucial clash, it being against current fellow strugglers Norwich.

In our dreams it is! I know we have two games in hand on them, but...don't hold your breath for six points...they're still nine away.

And as a sideline, we are told their sponsors Norwich Union are now Aviva...you can hear it, can't you?

"A viva el Norwich!"

Sorry, it's been one of those kind of days...with a joy filled evening to come!

A couple of...

...weeks ago, my sister asked if I'd make some earrings to match a necklace her mother-in-law had given her as a present. Not having seen it in reality, I asked for photos...came up with a design and duly sent them off...forgetting to photo them. I now have those photos, taken by my little sister...






I'm pleased with the effect, and I know she is...she told me so!

Monday 9 March 2009

Every day...

...in every way, I'm getting stronger and stronger...so the saying goes.

Maybe that's what my team need to use as a mantra, as long as they believed it! I think we, their careworn supporters, have been as strong as we can this season. We've looked on philosophically as the team first slid to, and then nestled comfortably at the foot of the table. We've watched as the gap between us and the team above, and also safety got wider, and less likely to be bridged. We are now in that area when we all know it's going to happen, and it's not if...but when...that's the only detail left to complete. Will it be before Easter? ...more likely than our hearts would like, but our heads know differently. How many will still go and watch the demise of a season, which started with hope, had a high of unknown riches dangled before it, and then slid into dismal nonentity.

I'm fairly sure that some players and management care, but caring isn't always enough...it has to be shown on the pitch, and too often this season that has been lacking. The fans wanted something to cheer, something to support, something to be proud of...even a fighting defeat, but they weren't given even those morsels for the majority of the past months. We watched as confusion and seeming apathy reigned, as our performances spiralled out of control. We were tormented as a few sparks fluttered, only to be stamped out by the general malaise that surrounds Charlton at present.

We have questions...like, will our manager survive? Which players will value playing for their careers in the third tier of the English game? Do we go with the youth...and would that be fair (they didn't get us where we are)? What can we afford?

I've wondered at the players who have slipped through our fingers the last few seasons...even before the advent of Dowie, Reed, Pardew and Parkinson...we have a good team playing permanently out there for others...makes you wonder, doesn't it!

Ahhh, but then, it's...."just Charlton"!

Sunday 8 March 2009

So after...

...this morning, I've taken some photos of one of my favourite flowers....tulips. But I really am a floweraholic...give me a flower and I see beauty somewhere.



Above and below - through the sitting room window to the garden




Above - on the kitchen table
Below - the same but with the sun shining

I told...

...you this weekend was an emotional roller coaster.

My viewers of today...didn't come. I got a call forty five minutes before they were due, to tell me. We're not in the right catchment area. Okay, and when did we work that one out?

Maybe it's just me, but that's the sort of thing I check before I make an appointment...but such is life...

Now I'm going to do other things, and try not to take it out on the card.

All the...

...emotions fill the weekend.

I'm not sure if one thing is cancelling the other, but my weekend is a strange roller coaster of emotions. If we start late Friday afternoon, we had a call from our agents saying someone else wanted to view, but couldn't make it until next weeks Saturday. Chalk one up to joy, then yesterday morning another call with another viewer who will be arriving here in about two and a half hours, so another one to the joys...yesterday afternoon the agents showed someone else round who knows the house as he was a friend of our sons and viewed first time, last year...so three for the joy pile.

Take against that the events of yesterday afternoon at my football teams ground...another roller coaster within one. We found ourselves out played for the first twenty minutes, and Watford scored in the eighteenth minute...or seventeen minutes and somewhat seconds. A definite down moment. We then realised they weren't as good as we thought, and we scored two. Half time, shock horror...we were in front! Another one for the joy pile. Obviously reality set in at half time and we had time to digest this unusual occurrence, and we let them score twice in the second half! Two to the down sides again...though sitting directly behind the first of these...the shot was a good one, but maybe, just maybe our defence shouldn't have let it get that far. A couple of calls for penalties...especially when Hudson was pulled down, but I have a feeling the referee took the decision he was not in control of the ball, but...you try to read a ref's mind, I've given up! Also we had a goal disallowed for being off side...that I'd like to see again, before I pass judgement. That was before they got back into the game... So the afternoon did not pass well...

As you can see my emotional roller coaster rolls on. Just keep passing the pills...I'm beginning to need them!

Wednesday 4 March 2009

New beads...








...to be found in the shop! I hope you like.

A soggy...

...outing last night! Did I get drowned...yes, and to cap it, we lost! Most think that was the final nail. It wasn't a good performance, and being now nine points adrift from even the team directly above us, is a few points too far. I think we all agree it's League One (old third division) next season. We've been there before and dug ourselves out, so we know it can be done with hardwork and some graft on the part of players and management. I promise to do my bit...to still go and to still shout. Not that I felt much like shouting last night, just too cold and wet, but I did when needed. You just knew the writing was on the wall, when the referee of the evening...smiled as he was being booed at. Rob Styles likes to perform on stage...where a good ref should be mostly anonymous, he never is. But apart from that we assisted in our own downfall, by not taking the chances we were presented with.

Today started in a dismal mood...last night...waiting for these viewers to come to a decision, and other things. I decided a visit to a craft day I used to go to, was the order of the day. A group of friends hire a hall together and make whatever their particular craft or hobby is for the day, taking it in turns to make the lunch. Dragging all my beads and paraphanelia with me, I sat and made a couple of necklaces and a bracelet...when someone asked for a pair of earrings...others gathered and I've instructions to take my jewellery next visit. Lunch was terrific too... Just as we were tidying to leave, my phone rang...the estate agents! Reception being poor we stood shouting at one another, until it clicked off completely. The ladies bundled me out the hall...shouting good luck after me...at home I rang...and another set of viewers who came months ago want to come back too...whoo! So they're coming this Saturday...I would've fallen off my chair if I'd been sitting down, as I thought it would be about my perennual viewers again. They're still out there.

Anyway, that's where we are, and a happier evening than early morning. At least I have a smile on my face again.

Monday 2 March 2009

Gosh...

...a new day, a new week, and a new month...(okay yesterday was the 1st...but you get my drift!)

Where did those two months go!?! And in just three weeks it's Spring...and my sisters birthday...and in four weeks we get lighter evenings. I can feel a smile trying to erupt! ;)

Anyway...the last day of February saw my team draw away to Swansea. A passing result, but unfortunately those around us did themselves more good, and won...so we're further adrift. Listening to the commentary we did battle after going behind, and were unlucky not to score a second, but that's how it goes when you have to rely on others, and we do now need to do that. We have to win, but that's not enough...we need those around us to lose. Tomorrow evening I'll be at the Valley to see if we can beat Doncaster...make a little more luck for ourselves. It's passing strange that we're trying to move to Norfolk and the team directly above Charlton in the league, with the potential of going down with us is Norwich...they lost at the weekend too.

Our perennial viewers came back on Saturday. I was nice! This morning I have some calls to make, and beads to make...and the post office to visit, some beads off to Georgia...oh, and Saturday I had some beads go to Hawaii...that was a first. :)