Went to a brand new opening of Royale dâasie Chinese buffet yesterday with a space theme, robots wandering about taking drinks from the bar to the tables and I have never seen such a selection of food in all my life, even frogs legs in tempura batter and 8 different versions of Tiramisu. We were actually overwhelmed even by the sushi counter let alone all the fresh meat and fish you can have cooked in front of you. Well worth a visit and âŹ20 each for lunchtime, it was absolutely packed handheld well over a hundred or more customers. Then to JYSK a Danish version of IKEA where they were selling stock at silly prices because of liquidation so got a King sized 220 x240 summer duvet for âŹ12 and a one of those soft deep bath mats for âŹ5, canât argue with that.
Belated birthday wishes!
Yesterday, the world stood still⊠albeit for a brief moment.
Those of us trundling up the street or simply standing chatting⊠all turned our heads skywards.
A cloud of Bees whirled over rooftops⊠contemplated chimneys⊠danced this way and that⊠and all the while the buzzing non-stop was impossible to miss.
In fact it was the noise which I reckon got us all scanning around us to find its source.
Phew, the swarm wandered past my roof and welcoming chimneys and dropped down into the valley and out of our sight.
It really was a magical moment. weâve experienced swarms behind shutters of empty houses etc. but am pleased they headed into the trees this year
We always bang saucepans together. They donât like noise.
A few years ago I used to keep bees and was often called out to remove a swarm.
As a matter of interest, before swarming, bees take on as much honey as they can and cannot bend to use their sting so are supposed to be harmless.
We donât mind the Bees and have several Bee Keepers in our commune and at least one in the village.
They arenât a nuisance, just sometimes they decide to settle where it really isnât suitable. 
Amazonâs new monthly selection of Kindle deals is out today and, after a while, it looks like finally someone is taking care of it.
Lots of interesting stuff at ÂŁ0.99p per book. Yuval Noah Harariâs Homo Deus. Also all the books in Barbara Taylor Bradfordâs Woman of Substance multi-generational saga are ÂŁ0.99p each. There are 7 in the series.
Always worth a look around the 1st of each month although they did take away a lot of the easy indexing for the deals a while back. So now I just buy less because Amazon doesnât get right what I want to see and without an index, I just run out of time to find what I want.
But the Kindle deals are still worth 1 good look through when they refresh each month (and sometimes around the 17th when there might be a mini-refresh). And of course you can sign up for the Daily Deals newsletter for the ÂŁ0.99p offers up each day that only last a day.
Lucky there werenât any bicycles nearbyâŠ
Todayâs Cheerful News:
Iâve got my glad rags on and Iâm wearing high-heels for the first time in 4 years! (my last major accident)
Feeling really smart and Iâm hoping that this eveningâs event wont see me moving my comment to the âuncheerful newsâ thread 
I bet they feel like stilts!
Way back whenever, I used to wear nothing but high heels, and I mean high 4â stilettos! Gone are those days. After two achilles tendon operations and months wearing one of these CAM boots each time, now Iâm good for wearing flat shoes only.
Several years ago I took about 25 pairs of shoes (some never worn) to âThe Funny Farmâ our local cat charity - the women there said not many of the shoes would be actually making the next sale!
Now stop that Rachel, far too much information, even for warm weather. 
I love this personâs optimism that this is all perfectly ok - they were stopped by the police on the autoroute, who posted the photo on their site..
I can never wear anything other than flat shoes again either after having the bones shaved down, pinned etc for the two bunion ops in 2023. The surgeon warned me against it and to be honest, I donât miss high heels one bit. There are some really nice flat shoes about that donât look elderly and the kine warned me never to wear the clog style crocs either as they are very bad for support.
I have always wondered why women put themselves through such a stupid item of apparel. Of course the reason is, as so often , men. There is no denying that whatever those stilettos are doing for foot health, they really do bring out the excellence of the female calf. 
High heels substantially reshape the way a woman looks when she stands, often favourably emphasising her figure. Not a good idea for daily wear though, because of the punishment they deliver to various parts.
And todayâs cheerful news is that I am still in one piece 
Received many compliments on my outfit and my âheelsâ were just fine.
Not stilettos
My black leather/patent-leather shoes had Cuban heels, sufficiently high to stop my trousers dragging on the floor, but not so high as to cause a nosebleed
As the evening unfurled, I danced and pranced with the crowd. Though must admit it was mostly us girls with a couple or so (very brave) men.
Sadly, OHâs health meant he was forced to stay sitting at our table and enjoy munching/slurping and chatting with the other menfolk
Even more cheerful news is that I now know how to dance the Macarena
Yes, Iâve no doubt many of you know all about this, but Iâve never actually âhad a goâ until last night. Amidst much laughter, I joined my pals and I did my best. The efforts of âthe mad English ladyâ seemed to be appreciated
I agree with you Shiba that there are some lovely flatties around. And thatâs good advice from your kine about the clog style crocs. 
At least we donât put ourselves through what the Chinese women did - footbinding! No photo needed to illustrate the torture these poor women must have gone through!
Absolutely barbaric that was. I listened to Jung Chang interviewed the other day, the writer of one of the best books I have read, Wild Swans, telling how her grandmotherâs feet had been crushed by heavy stones which broke all the bones allowing the feet to become bandaged stumps. Truly awful
+1. Totally agree David