Cragside 8/5/08

Yet another lovely day weather-wise. Will wonders ever cease?

We'd initially planned to go to the Metrocentre with our friend, Jane. However, she rang up and cancelled as she's not been too well of late so we went along to Cragside (about 30 miles north of Newcastle). What a fascinating place to visit. It is the first house in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity. A very nice pad indeed. Some beautiful rooms with lots of the Art Nouveau influence with tons of gorgeous Pre-Raphaelite paintings which are really up my street. Even William Morris wallpaper in most of the rooms too.

The gardens were extensive (1000 acres on the estate) but mainly set in a deep gorge that was a bit of a bugger to negotiate. In the end, we went back to the car and drove it around to the other side instead of walking!

Well, so far I've not received my monkey puzzle and apple trees - yet I was told to expect them today. Of course, the day's not over so he could still drop them off but I'd guess it'll be tomorrow now.

I hope my car's ready to be collected by tomorrow. There was a MAJOR problem with it that is costing me about £2,000 to get put right... And that was the cheapest garage I approached too! Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice car and relatively new so it's worth spending it but it's a hell of a lot of money. Nearly made me cry having to think of spending that kind of money and not having something pretty a shiny at the end of it... Excluding the car, that is!

I hung the picture I'd had framed. She's one of the pictures along the wall that the piano's against. She looks great. I've called her Floella. She looks a Floella to me.

Having a day across in Hartlepool tomorrow. Shouldn't be too bad despite going to Cath's funeral. It'll be nice to see lots of other old friends who'll be there too. I'll have to get up early though what with the funeral being a 10am. It takes two hours to get there from here so I'll have to be left by 7.30am at the latest. Needless to say, I'll iron my shirt and prepare my suit tonight rather than in the morning. Speaking of shirts... I don't iron mine until I need them. Is that usual? I've found that I iron them, hang them up in the wardrobe and when I need them they're creased to buggeration and need a pressing again. When I lived at home and my mother used to wash and iron my shirts I'd ofter wear two or three a day. Now I do my own I can make one last three days if I put my mind to it. How people change!