Went to the TickedTICA cat show in Swanley last Sunday

The TickedTICA Cat Club had a show both days last weekend at the Whiteoaks Centre at Swanley.

I thought about going on Saturday, but it was just as well I didn’t as we had a family emergency – fortunately only a small one requiring a rush trip to Stephen’s Mum’s place, but she’s perfectly fine 🙂 – so I managed to fit in a visit on Sunday along with meeting my wind quintet for a morning playing session and visiting the ASDA supermarket in Swanley where I was desperate for some raspberry flavoured soluble Vitamin C. (I don’t like orange or blackcurrant flavours and Boots seem to have discontinued their lemon flavour, so it’s got to be ASDA for raspberry – as they’re the only ones who sell it.)

I’d never been to a cat show before, and having read the rules about taking your cat out early, I was quite surprised when I arrived at 3pm to see people removing their cats. Anyway, I went in and there were still quite a few cats there. My first impression was that the hall had a definite smell of ‘cat’ about it!!!

I saw a totally gorgeous 7-month old Bengal that I would love to be able to take home, but bet I can’t afford. He had won various rosettes – and not just within his own breed. His owner didn’t say so, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep him and have him at stud.

I also saw my first ever sphynxes – and even got to touch two of them. As their owners said, they do have a “peachy” feel to them. I liked a sphynx boy with a dark body and very dark face, but the judge only gave him third in his breed, placing two girls ahead of him. One of the girls had some pink skin and some grey skin.

I was fortunate not to be standing too close to an angry tom whose owner was just mopping up the floor. She hung kitchen towel down his cage, and it’s just as well she did as he sprayed again and clobbered the kitchen towel. 😀

The people were very friendly and I saw some lovely cats. I have my doubts about whether a cat show is something that Rolo would appreciate though.

The same club have another show in a month’s time at the same venue and I might go again for another look, but try and get there a bit earlier. I’d love to see that beautiful Bengal again…

Entry for May 11, 2007

This morning the traffic reports were unbelievably good – and they lived up to expectations. I wasn’t quite so lucky on the way home, as there was an “incident” between J29 and J30 of the M25, so I decided to use the A13 and join the M25 at J30. Unfortunately, they were replacing armco on the A13 and there was a bottleneck where the traffic had to merge into one lane. Fortunately I was soon past that and traffic was flowing so freely on the M25 when I joined that I wondered whether I should have taken my usual route up the A127 to J29 after all.

It looks like being a wet weekend, which is a shame, because the Ravens Wood Custom & Classic Car Show & Fayre 2007 is on this Sunday, and we’d enjoy going so long as we aren’t going to get wet through. It’s also Mr Punch’s birthday this weekend, so there will be lots of Punch & Judy Shows at Covent Garden. That’s also probably more interesting if the weather co-operates.

Today’s picture is one I came across when hunting out yesterday’s picture; and with a new Harry Potter book due out any day now, I thought a line of Anglias was quite topical. 🙂

Website update: Wild West Show pictures

I’ve put up a page of pictures taken at the Wild West Show at The Hop Farm last Saturday.

There wasn’t a cowboy in sight anywhere, but there were lots of pioneers and Native Americans – although I think most of both groups were only playing at it!

Helen Stephenson’s Wild West Show Pictures – May 2007

There are 76 images on the page, so if you’re on dial-up, be patient while the page loads!

Entry for May 06, 2007

It’s been a lazy day today. I’ve edited some of my Wild West Show pictures and watched some snooker and that’s about it!

Today’s picture is a portrait of one of the “Indians”. I think it’s a very pleasing portrait, and if I were to criticise anything about it, it would be that his headdress isn’t totally in focus.

Out in the wider world, French conservative Nicolas Sarkozy won the French presidential election; and Kim Clijsters hung up her tennis racquet. We will wait and see what impact Sarkozy has, but Stephen and I will miss Kim Clijsters.

Entry for May 05, 2007

Today we went to the Wild West Show at The Hop Farm. I made a mistake in leaving it until this morning to buy our tickets online at a discount, as it turned out that you could only pre-book and when I went to the website this morning, as this was a current event, it had been removed from the list of events that could be pre-booked. I’ll live and learn, as it cost us an extra £3 between us to buy our tickets on arrival.

We didn’t think that the Wild West Show was as good value as the War and Peace Show, also held at The Hop Farm. (We’ve been to the W&P Show twice, and thought we’d try something different this year.)

We saw a stunt riding display, Indian dancing (although the origins of some of the “Indians” looked suspiciously Caucasion 🙂 ) and various re-enactments relating the the original colonisation of North America by the English and the French.

Today’s picture is of musket fire during one of the re-enactments. There were about four different sides to the battle: English, French, local militia and Indians. It was not a warm day and one of the “Indians” must have been the coldest man at The Hop Farm today as his costume consisted of boots and some sort of loincloth. I will eventually put a picture of him onto my website, but if I post it here, I might be accused of posting adult content, as his bumflap blew up at one point and I will have to study the picture quite closely to determine how much he may have been wearing underneath it. 😳

Entry for April 30, 2007

This is going to be a quick entry as it’s past bedtime!

I had an uneventful drive both to and from work, and put in a full day in the office.

There now appear to be at least two people after my Opel Manta GT/E. I must get back to the guy who put a note through my door recently; and if he doesn’t pan out, there’s at least one guy from the Opel Manta Owners Club who’s interested. That’s a far cry from five years ago, when it was difficult to even give a Manta away!

I’ve found out that the Ravens Wood Custom & Classic Car Show & Fayre 2007 is on Sunday 13th May and that my 1999 Nissan 200SX is old enough to show! I’m sorely tempted to enter it, tip a bucket of water over it the day before, and take it along! In fact, if I had a month to prepare, maybe I’d see about getting the Manta MOTed, taxed and insured and take that along, too! Except then it would be even harder to part with her, and I really can’t afford to run her. I wish I could, though.

Today’s picture was taken two years ago at the Ravens Wood show and is of the bonnet of a Pugeot.

Oh, and the bread pudding has improved with a bit of age on it. I took a piece to work for my lunch and the spices have mellowed. It’s also become a little soft and squishy. Lovely!