This morning, we had DB rep in nearly all day.  This afternoon Vanessa was kind enough, to do me a chiropody treatment.

At 6pm i went to a FREE taster Tai-Chi class, it is a series of 4 classes, to see how you like it, i persuaded Mum to go and Debbie came as well.

I have often wanted to try Tai Chi, but was nervous of going by myself, i enjoyed it better than i thought i would, although it was harder work than i thought it would be.

I know i know, this is Norfolk UK.  But at 1am the whole house started shaking and vibrating, Bob and Micheal went downstairs to see if they could see anything, on the way back up, Micheal said it was just like an Earthquake.  
When my radio alarm sprung into life about 6am this morning first thing i heard on Sarah Kennedy was at 1am there had been an Earthquake, the epicentre was Market Raisin in Lincolnshire which is not too far from us as the crow flies, it reached a 5.2 on the rictre scale, the strongest in the UK for 25 years (1984).

Brownies
Tonight we made teapot Mothers Day Cards, with a fruit tea bag in side and the following rhyme.

Here’s a Gift for Mothers Day
I’ll do my best in every way
But when you get upset with me
Relax and have a cup of Tea

With Love

I finished reading
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
A brilliant book, an Americans view of the UK, very amusing, i well recommend it, if you haven't read it you don't know what you are missing,  I am sure Bob is glad i have finished it, because i kept reading him bits of it.

Dylan celebrates his 2nd Birthday tomorrow, but as Jenny has Rainbows and I have Brownies, I am working and so is Andy.we decided to celbrate today.

So we went round Jen and Andy's for tea and Dylan opened his presents, there was quite a bit of Bob the Builder which is his favourite.

Diane in Tenerife sent this from the Dubai Nursing Network, I thought it was an important message, so i have copies it in below.

 

Bottled water in your car.....very dangerous, woman!!!! This is how Sheryl Crow got breast cancer. She was on the Ellen show and said this same exact thing. This has been identified as the most common cause of the high levels in breast cancer, especially in Australia .. A friend whose mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The Doctor told her: women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a car. The doctor said that the heat and the plastic of the bottle have certain chemicals that can lead to breast cancer. So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has been left in a car, and, pass this on to all the women in your life. This information is the kind we need to know and be aware and just might save us!!!! The heat causes toxins from the plastic to leak into the water and they have found these toxins in breast tissue. Use a stainless steel Canteen or a glass bottle when you can!!!   Let every one that has a wife/girfriend and daughter know please.

Girlguiding UK celebrate Thinking Day every year, in our District (Smithdon and Brothercross District) we celebrate it on the Sunday nearest the 22nd February, which is today. Where Rainbows, Brownies and Guides from all over the District get together to celebrate this most important occasion in the Girlguiding calendar.  Below is a story i read my Brownies on Wednesday to tell and remind them what Thinking Day is all about.

What is Thinking Day 

Thinking Day is a very special birthday.  It is the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell and Lady Baden-Powell.

 What do we do on Thinking Day 

On Thinking Day, girls all over the world have parties to celebrate Lord Baden Powell and Lady Baden Powell’s birthdays.  On this Special Birthday we think of the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides all over the world.  And they think of us in the same way on this day.

 Who are Lord and Lady Baden Powell? 

Lord Baden Powell was born in England on 22^nd February  1857! When he was an adult he wrote a book about camping, first aid, animals and lots of other things.  He called this book ‘Scouting for Boys’. Lots of boys in England bought this book.  They loved it so much, they started little groups called Boy Scouts.  In the groups they did all the activities Lord Baden Powell talked about in his book and they talked to their friends about how much fun it was.  In just a little while, Boy Scout groups began popping up all over the world.

 

Lord Baden Powell had no idea how many boys there were in these groups so he decided to call them all together for a big party in London.  He invited ‘anyone doing scouting’ to come to the party. He was very surprised when eleven thousand  boys showed up.  But he was even more surprised by the small group of girls that came as well.

 

Lord Baden Powell stood in front of the girls and asked ‘Who are you?’

 

Together they replied proudly ‘We are the Girl Scouts’

 

Lord Baden Powell’s sister  Lady Agnes Baden Powell was at the party too.  She smiled at the girls, then turned to Lord Baden Powell and said, ‘It looks like you’re going to have to write a book for the girls too.’

 

‘Hmmm, How about you doing it, Agnes?’ replied Lord Baden Powell.

 

And so Lady Agnes Baden Powell wrote a handbook for the girls. Over time younger girls wanted to join in the fun too, so the Brownies were formed.  Just like the Boy Scouts, the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts spread all over the world.

Smithdon and Brothercross District Thinking Day
This year it was held at Docking, and was organised by people working towards the ALQ (Adult Leadership Qualification) of which Jude was one, as one clause was helping organise a District Event.  Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Leaders and Trefoil Guild members took part. We went round the continents of the world and after the carrying of the standards, there were 5 activities from Asia, Europe, America, Australia and Africa. Then we had a break and a talk from someone who worked in the Phillipines.  We sang He's got the whole world in his hands, and collected standards.
We also had a visit from the Press and the Mayor and Mayoress of Hunstanton.
It was a wonderful well planned afternoon, very relaxing and hassle free.

Bob worked a double shift today.

I finished reading
The Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham
The book started off in Norfolk just South of Kings Lynn, it is about a group of American Airforce Wives who befriend a Norfolk Girl and their lives.  A different book for me, but amusing in places.

Yesterday, me and Debbie spent all day interviewing potential staff, it was awful, me and Debbie aren't very good bosses, we had 6 persons booked, one cancelled on wednesday, and one just didn't turn up.
Which left us with 4 interviews, 1 was a 15 yr old, which we felt we needed someone more experienced. One person we didn't feel was quite right.  The other 2 well, one was in her 50's and had the right image looked smart, but we had doubts on her loyalty and commitment, the other was in her 30's but wasn't as smartly turned out as we would have liked although she was enthusiastic and had the right attitude. Coincidentally, she did work experience with Mum and Dad.
So ideally we wanted the appearance of one and attitude of the other, in the end we went with gut instinct and chose Sarah and personality rather than appearance. So thankfully the long day was over and decision was made.

Bob started work today at the Golden Lion, There was a lot of bickering with the Chef, Steven had to teach Bob what to do.

After work, I had Brownies, we made flags for Thinking Day, and played Games.

Then after that I had a Division Meeting, didn't get home till about 11pm.

Today I have had the honour of being invited to join Norfolk Girlguiding Centenary Committee, as Girl Guides become 100 in 2010.

I visited Michelle this morning, for a pedicure and manicure, this is the first time since October, when i started feeling unwell, i certainly feel better for it.

Bob had an interview at the Golden Lion today, and was offered the job in the kitchens, which he decided to take for the time being.

This morning while walking Spot i spotted what looked like perfect snowflakes frozen into the prom, when i used my car, there was a perfect cob web that looked like perfect frost crystals on it, then going to Michelles i saw rows of trees with this phenomenen on, on Anglia TV  tonight the weather girl said it looked like snow but wasn't, it was Diamond Dust.

From Wikipedia:-

Diamond dust - a ground-level cloud composed of tiny ice crystals. This meteorological phenomenon is also referred to simply as ice crystals and is reported in the METAR code as IC. Diamond dust generally forms under otherwise clear or nearly clear skies, so it is sometimes referred to as clear-sky precipitation. It is most commonly observed in Antarctica and the Arctic, but it can occur anywhere with a temperature well below freezing. In Polar regions diamond dust may continue for several days without interruption.

Diamond dust is similar to fog in that it is a cloud based at the surface; however, it differs from fog in two main ways. Generally fog refers to a cloud composed of liquid water (the term ice fog usually refers to a fog that formed as liquid water and then froze, and frequently seems to occur in polluted valleys such as Fairbanks, Alaska, while diamond dust forms directly as ice). Also, fog is a dense enough cloud to significantly reduce visibility, while diamond dust is usually very thin and may not have any effect on visibility (there are far fewer crystals in a volume of air than there are droplets in the same volume with fog). However, diamond dust can often reduce the visibility, in some cases to under a mile (1600 m).

The depth of the diamond dust layer can vary substantially from as little as 20 to 30 m (60 to 100 feet) to a few hundred metres (1000 feet). Because diamond dust does not always reduce visibility it is often first noticed by the brief flashes caused when the tiny crystals, tumbling through the air, reflect sunlight to your eye. This glittering effect gives the phenomenon its name since it looks like many tiny diamonds are flashing in the air.

These ice crystals usually form when a temperature inversion is present at the surface and the warmer air above the ground mixes with the colder air near the surface. Since warmer air frequently contains more water vapor than colder air, this mixing will usually also transport water vapor into the air near the surface, causing the relative humidity of the near-surface air to increase. If the relative humidity increase near the surface is large enough then ice crystals may form.

To form diamond dust the temperature must be below the freezing point of water, 0 °C (32 °F), or the ice cannot form or would melt. However, diamond dust is not often observed at temperatures near 0 °C. At temperatures between 0 °C and about -39 °C (+32 °F and -38 °F) increasing the relative humidity can cause either fog or diamond dust. This is because very small droplets of water can remain liquid well below the freezing point, a state known as supercooled water. In areas with a lot of small particles in the air, from human pollution or natural sources like dust, the water droplets are likely to be able to freeze at a temperature around -10 °C (+14 °F), but in very clean areas, where there are no particles (ice nuclei) to help the droplets freeze, they can remain liquid to -39 °C, at which point even very tiny, pure water droplets will freeze. In the interior of Antarctica diamond dust is fairly common at temperatures below about -25 °C (-13 °F).

Diamond dust is often associated with halos around the sun and other related optical phenomena (Greenler, 1999). These result because the diamond dust crystals form directly as ice (as opposed to freezing drops), and because they generally form slowly. This combination results in crystals with well defined shapes, usually either hexagonal plates or columns. These shapes, like a prism, can refract light in specific directions. Some halos can also be seen under a cirrus cloud, but diamond dust can create much more spectacular displays because the ice crystals are all around the observer.

While diamond dust can be seen in any area of the world that has cold winters, it is most frequent in the interior of Antarctica, where it is common year-round. Schwerdtfeger (1970) shows that diamond dust was observed on average 316 days a year at Plateau Station in Antarctica, and Radok and Lile (1977) estimate that over 70% of the precipitation that fell at Plateau Station in 1967 fell in the form of diamond dust (once melted, the total precipitation for the year was only 25 mm [1 inch]).

Diamond dust may sometimes cause a problem for automatic weather stations. The ceilometer and visibility sensor do not always correctly interpret the falling diamond dust and report the visibility and ceiling as zero (overcast skies). However, a human observer would correctly notice clear skies and unrestricted visibility.

I finished reading
Road Rage by Ruth Rendell
An Inspector Wexford Mystery, it was a brilliant story.

Me, Bob and Spot went to Walsingham Abbey on their Snowdrop walk, it was lovely, sun was shining, ground frost was sparkling and it wasn't too cold
We went over Packhorse Bridge, down through the Dell then back through the Riverside Walk, is was beautiful.

Kevins back isn't so sore today.

Bob collected Andy, Jen and Family from the station after their return from Sheffield.

I have just registered 1st Hunstanton Brownies with Sainsburys active kids, to try and help our unit get some more equipment, so if you have or collect any vouchers, i would be pleased to recieve them.

Kevin had to be collected from work, as he has done his back in, typical, what next.

I have just finished reading
Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
A Miss Marple mystery, it was brilliant, i realised once i started reading it, that i read it ages ago, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment.

I finished
An Unkindness of Ravens by Ruth Rendall
A Chief Inspector Wexford Mystery, Not a bad book, but too predictable.

Today was a joint Scout and Guide Activity day taking place in the Forum in Norwich, as County PR I attended to run a PR stand, Bob came as chauffer and Jude and Charlotte came to help to help with some craft activities.
We had created a Guiding Norfolk Fortune Teller which went down very well, the County Commissioner came and presented me with my County PR name badge, making my position official.
The scouts had a caving activity, which Charlotte loved.

It was a long tiring day, but very interesting.

I finished reading
Magic by Tami Hoag
What can i say a wonderful book very well written, it had, romance, mystery, humour, superstition, what more can you ask, fantastic.

Today me and Bob took Spot a walk through Sandringham Country Park, it was a lovely sunny day and very warm.  However, at one place it was a steep downward slope and very muddy and i slipped and went down, i must have twisted something i am in terrible pain, round my lower back and abdomen,

Jude never came round for dinner with charlotte, i assume it was because of her disagreement with Mike, i didn't mind, but it would have been nice to have been told, they are just so selfish, no consideration for me.

Last night Mike came and asked Bob to look at his car as it wasn't going, Bob told him to give it a jump start, this was unsuccessful, so he said he would look at it today, when we got home he was going to look at it, but Mike and our neighbour beat Bob to it, it turned out the only problem was he had run out of petrol.

Yesterday Jenny and Andy went on the train to Sheffield to spend half term with Andys parents.

I have finished reading
Bad Men by John Connolly
Mike gave me the book, i wasn't sure to begin with, but it wasn't too bad after all.

Last night we did a valentine craft and pancakes.

I should have started work at 10am, however, at 8.45am, i got a call from Debbie, she had been in an accident but was OK,  can i open the shop, yikes i wasn't dressed and hadn't done my make up or hair, and vanessa our chiropodist would turn up about 9am.  So i grabbed my clothes, my hairbrush and make up, and rushed to the shop to get changed there.  Would you believe it, I had  2 customers immediately having to apologise for the way i was dressed, you know in my dog walking/house work clothes.

Debbie and Jon arrived about 9.45am and explained that the steering had gone on their car, and it had gone into a roundabout, luckily they didn't hit anyone else, and were both OK, although very shaken.  Jon was taking the car to the garage to be looked at because they weren't happy with it, although it had an MOT last week.

As for the rest of the day, it just didn't get any better, it was just an awful day.

Tonight i started Yoga again, i am passionate about my Yoga, I love it, but i have not been well for the past three months, and kept having coughing fits, just imagine the embarrassment of having a coughing fit in the middle of yoga!!

I enjoyed it but it was hard work.

I have given up my Gym subscription, i found it often difficult to fit it in, found myself neglecting my housework, and it was £25 a month, instead i have acquired a Cross Trainer, to keep me active.

The above 2 exercises and dog walking should be enough i would think

Today Andy started work as a Volunteer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself, he looked quite dashing in his uniform.

1^st Hunstanton Brownies have been struggling financially this year, I have recently come across a website, that aid charities raise money.

The website is www.easyfundraising.org.uk you log onto the website, go through the simple registration procedure, enter 1^st Hunstanton Brownies as your chosen charity.  Then 1^st Hunstanton Brownies will get a donation from each purchase you make that is linked through the site.

 

How it works

 We provide a FREE service where you can shop with your favourite online stores and at no extra cost raise funds for any charity, good cause or group you choose to support. You still shop directly with each retailer as you would normally, but simply by using the links from our site first, each purchase you make will generate a cashback donation to the cause you wish to support.
For example, spend £25 with WH Smith and 3.5% will be donated. You will have raised £0.88, at no extra cost to your purchase. Make any purchase from Amazon and 2.5% will be donated. Insure your car with Direct Line and raise £30.00, or purchase a mobile phone from O2 and earn £17.50, and so on.

You can shop with 500+ Brand Name retailers and to raise funds you just use the links from our site first - it's that simple!

If you ALREADY shop online, why not help good causes at no extra cost from purchases you would make anyway.

Please support this venture if possible, after all it costs nothing.

I just finished
Good at Games by Jill Mansell
A different type of book for me, a deliciously funny romantic comedy

Mike and Jude have fell out again big time, they are just so selfish neither of them consider the effect on me being stuck in the middle, it makes me so depressed.

1^st-3^rd February 2008

 North West Norfolk Division, held a Team Building Weekend at Dunton Activity Centre, near Fakenham. This was open to all Guiders in the Division, and about 16 attended, with several more visiting during the course of the weekend. We arrived on Friday evening during snow blizzards, we had nibbles with some wine, and had a quiz evening which was won by the Pink Ladies, i was one of the Pink Ladies.

On Saturday, it was a nice day but bitterly cold with snow on the ground, unfortunately i had to go to work on Saturday but i will say what the rest of the group did, they first did Archery where they lost 8 arrows which cost £5 each, despite hunting for them they couldn’t find them. Then they did a training session on the Senior Section Rollout.

During the afternoon, they had a Scrapbooking session which i would have loved.  I arrived back for dinner, we had an enjoyable time, Bowling in Fakenham, my shoulder was playing me up so i played much worse than usual. After which, we came back to some more nibbles and wine, where the Sissix Machine, Hama Beads and Badgemaking was available for anyone who wished for a try. On Sunday morning we woke to a nice day, after breakfast, we went back out into the field looking for those elusive arrows, and we found 6!!!!!! Just after we had finished, a riderless horse with a saddle came trotting by. A few of our group, jumped into a car to find the rider, while another group went after the horse. The rider was found walking up the road and was given a lift to his horse, so a happy ending for all! 

After our drama, we had a Body Shop demonstration, which was a nice and relaxing morning. Our weekend finished just before Sunday Lunch.  There is also talk of the next one!! Everyone said what a wonderful weekend they had.

Bob is looking for a new job after parting ways with his job in Wisbech. He had been experiencing breathing problems due to the new air conditioning system and a solution was not forthcoming.