WOW ...... A DOUBLE MEDIA MONDAY.

Firstly, from The Petty Witter Times I bring you this latest photograph of our great nephew, Little Plum.

Now, I've had some bad bus journeys but nothing like this.

A bus service put on to take villagers to their nearest town has been branded a failure because their is no return service.

Locals travelling from Winterslow to Andover will be forced to make their own way home, as the route runs only one way.

A Wiltshire resident said "It is ridiculous. You get to Andover but then find you cannot get back." - The Telegraph (19/09/2011)

How sweet.

(Photograph courtesy of Solent News)

A cat which was unable to climb up a garden fence because of its arthritis now does it in style using a specially-made spiral staircase.

Tom, a ginger tabby aged 11, struggled with the 8ft fence until its ownners created the staircase. - The Telegraph (20/09/2011)

So romantic.

COUPLE MARRY HALF A MILE OUT AT SEA. Lovebirds Becky Watkinson and Samson Hutson yesterday wed on a rock half a mile out to sea.

The couple took the plunge and swam to the ceremony in wetsuits along with 43 guests – and a vicar.

The bride then slipped into a white tutu and exchanged vows on the 20-foot high rocky outcrop before diving back into the water with the guests for the swim back. - Richard Smith, The Mirror (24/09/2011)

Following on from my POST ON WITCHES I was intrigued to read this article ......

GIVE WITCHES PINK HATS. From the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard Of Oz to Meg, the good witch from the Meg And Mog children's books, witches have always dressed in black.

But now equality experts claim that the traditional attire could send a negative message to toddlers in nursery and lead to racism.

Instead, teachers should censor the toy box and replace the pointy black hat with a pink one, while dressing fairies, generally resplendent in pale pastels, in darker shades. - Julie Henry, The Telegraph (25/09/2011)

Watch out Harry Potter.

Police officers at the Houses of Parliament have confiscated magic wands, broomsticks, snow boots and even a giant tennis ball from visitors.

Figures released showed hundreds of items, including three balloons, a boomerang, an egg, a horse crop and five children's police helmets, had been confiscated over the past six months. - The Telegraph (26/09/2011)

"Woof." "What was that you were saying?"

MANS BEST FRIEND GETS THEIR OWN TV ADVERT. You supposedly can't teach an old dog new tricks, but the marketing industry has come up with a novel way to sell pet food – by designing an advert that only canine consumers can understand.

The advert, which at first looks like a standard commercial for pet food, uses high-frequency squeaks and signals to grab the attention of any dogs in the room. The idea is that they will become so excited they will jump up and wag their tail at the screen, until the owner relents and buys the promoted product. - Harry Wallop, The Telegraph (01/10/2011)

And finally .........

For those of you yet to read about it can I once again mention the Book Season being run by The Guardian/Observer. For details of its ReaditSwapit scheme see yesterdays post.

PLEASE NOTE : Wherever possible I will endeavour to bring you the links to articles I have used in my Media Monday posts but this is not always possible.

OCTOBER NEWS.

Well, it's now October and the end of the month sees an evening of ghostly goings on in the form of Halloween.

Apologies then that I'm going to deviate from my usual custom of reviewing books in the order in which I read them and instead will be reviewing 4 scary seasonal books over the next few Tuesdays - all of them children's books of course, I have far too vivid an imagination/am to big a coward (take your pick) to read anything scary written with adults in mind.

Anyway, over the next few weeks as well as my usual reviews I'll be looking at the following books .......

4th October .. Broomsticks And Beasticles by Barbara.
11th October . Whispers In The Graveyard by Theresa Breslin.
18th October . Mirror Mirror by Edgar J Hyde.
25th October . A Good Day For Haunting by Louise Arnold.

Oh and for more Halloween fun why not visit Trick OR Treat For Books at Melissa's Books And Things site.

"It's a month long event where there will be lots of fun Halloween posts, mini giveaways and a great INTERNATIONAL grand prize winner!!
Every Monday one of us will have a post with a mini giveaway. Visit each post and fill out the form! The more you trick or treat, the more chances you have to win! Squee! Uh, I mean Boo!
The schedule?
Mon. Oct, 3: The Unread Reader~ Vampires! Mini Giveaway

Mon. Oct. 10: The Geeky Blogger~ Witches! Mini Giveaway
Mon. Oct. 17: Books and Things~ Ghosties! Mini Giveaway
Mon. Oct. 24: The Bookish Brunette~ Zombies! Mini Giveaway.
Oct. 31st. Grand Prize Winner Announced!!"

For more information visit Melissa by clicking HERE or simply click on the  Trick OR Treat For Books icon at the top of my blog.

And talking of books ..........

The Guardian and its sister newspaper The Observer have a wonderful scheme running at the moment, part of its six weeks Book Season they are encouraging book lovers from around the world to join in its ReadItSwapIt scheme.

Its easy to do and such fun. All you need to do is pick a book(s) you have read, download a sticky label (available HERE), stick it into the book along with a message if you so wish, and leave it in a place where someone will find it - the downloadable label has a segment which tells the new owner that the book is theirs to keep.

So come on, what are you waiting for, I'm joining in the fun.

POOLEY BRIDGE PICS.

As promised here are some of the photographs from our recent Silver Wedding Anniversary trip spent in Pooley Bridge in the Lake District.

Would you believe this is a shopping centre?

Not just any old shopping centre though, this is the Rheged Centre near Penrith. Carved out into the hillside and very environmentally friendly you would never guess that this impressive building houses not just shops but cafes, play areas, a massive screen showing both 2D and 3D films as well as conference rooms and display areas - we were lucky enough to see some of the costumes from British cinema though sadly we were not allowed to photograph them.

And the best thing about it? Apart from the cake. Husband dearest actually enjoyed the experience.

Anna Versary (my latest teddy, an anniversary gift from Hd).

Here we have Anna settling down for the night in our room at The Sun Inn, Pooley Bridge (click HERE to visit their website)

(Not our photograph, this came courtesy of the website)

Wonderfully clean and very comfortable, the food was great and the staff beyond compare - nothing was too much trouble and they went that extra mile when Hd was taken into hospital, making sure I was ok, they arranged hotel accomadation next to the hospital and provided a shoulder to cry on. Sincere thanks once again to John and Jane and their wonderful team.

Some of the views crossing Ullswater on the steamer.