WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

We have a friend who likes to paint. When we redecorated the lounge/dining room I asked him to paint something for the end wall. After some discussion it was decided that he would feature some of our favourite things... a bit of a risk really ... where to start ? I left it to him, he knows us well... Three years later (I jest not) he delivered this. We love it but we are slightly concerned that the bottle of wine has such prominence...!?!

Nice to see the paragraphs back again...at least on Rosey's post. Loved the splash of colour Rosey, thank you. It certainly brightened up the page. It had begun to look a bit "solid" with posts not showing paragraphs.

DH and I went into Christchurch to visit a friend in hospital yesterday. We parked miles away and walked along the river bank. It's usually such a lovely walk , yesterday it was quite very strange...The road is still cordoned off to traffic. It was so quiet...the pavement was broken and the river was dirty. The grass had not been mowed and some of the larger trees had been removed (for safety) Looking towards the city central, only the cranes were visible. There were piles of bricks and rubble everywhere. We walked past DH's old school. The quad there,which has always been strictly "Off limits" to the boys, was covered with temporary school buildings.. (that REALLY upset him !) The beautiful Arts Centre looked very sad , covered with scaffolding ...When we eventually got to the hospital I felt very anxious being in such a large and multi story building. I wasn't happy in the lifts and ended up scurrying up lots of staircases..The Hospital was basically undamaged, but the ceilings had been removed along the corridors, I presume for checking that everything was still working. The sight of the pipes and the wires made it look very ' third world' .. we may have to get used to that...

A few more roads were opened yesterday, that should help with the traffic congestion . Evidently the city sewerage system is "on a knife edge.." the pipes are full of silt . There are still 41,000 people using chemical toilets and Porta- loos are still in evidence in some areas. Those of us who live in the country are so fortunate. It will be a long winter for those living in the city.

We are enjoying a spell of beautiful weather. A bit nippy in the early morning but the days are sunny and warm. The trees are looking colourful, it's a lovely time of year. DH has gone to golf today , he'll enjoy that. Nice to be out on a day like this.

Marion.