| | A sure sign of summer ! 
These are the Oriental poppies that are in full bloom now. The flowers are huge with papery petals and a deep red centre, they are so big that they soon droop under the weight of the flower. The red ones I have haven't grown much this year as they are in a shady part of the garden, later I will get the gardener to move them to a more suitable place
It is another glorious day here but the temperature has soared to the upper 70s so It is too warm to do much more than sit and admire the flowers. I have come in to blog before this room which is west-facing gets warmer as it is 26os at the moment but will rise as the sun gets to the west.
Tomorrow I'm meeting my cousins in Liverpool for lunch and chat which I am looking forward to as we usually only meet twice a year. I am the eldest of seven grandchildren, four girls and three boys. Brian lives in Canada, Gerard moved to London 20 + years ago and we lost touch with him, John the only one who lives locally is a priest who doesn't think he would appreciate our company  I don't know what he means ! Ann, a widow, lives in Manchester, Maureen is unmarried and lives on the Wirral but Jean, a divorcee, still lives here in Widnes. Three of us " girls " followed the family tradition and were teachers like our grandmother, aunts and mothers. Only three of the GGC , all girls have kept up the tradition though my GS, Gregory is thinking about joining the " gang " like his granddad
I got a letter the other day from the Teacher's Pension Agency telling me that I have been overpaid for the last few years but they were unable to tell me by how much until AFTER the 30. June ! The letter was an advanced warning notice - actually I found it quite distressing as I don't know by how much my pension will go down. Fortunately I will not have to pay back any of the money they overpaid. There was an article in the Daily Telegraph yesterday saying that over 90,000 civil servants eg. police, teachers,judges etc. will be affected that number includes 32,000 teachers. After the fiasco of the MPs expenses, the loss of many computer discs with containing personal details of thousands of people this is just another example of the ineptitude of our government and their agencies ( many of which are quangoes ) For those who are lucky enough to live without quangoes here is an explanation !
Quango ;-from quasi and autonomous. They are non-governmental organisations that the government has devolved power to but they get money from the government or should I say -tax-payer? I tried to find out how many there are in the UK no joy ! - but it is more than 7,000.
To add to the various problems I've been having lately, this Friday I found that my watch needs a new battery. A mere trivial problem I know but recently I seem to be having more than my fair share of problems big and small. 
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| | Posted 5/31/2009 6:35 PM - 37 Views - 20 eProps - 15 comments
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