Chapter 1 - Getting started!

Hi Friends,
Well, let the long-threatened blog commence! Thanks for being patient all those of you who have been asking & encouraging me. (I have a list of 50 things I want to do before my next birthday & starting a blog was No.1!)

I don't know if anyone has seen the old film Passport to Pimlico (1949)? An unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated in the Pimlico area of London & the crater reveals an ancient long-buried document proving that the area is actually part of Burgundy, & therefore officially 'foreign territory'. It's 'knees-up time' all round as the residents revel in their independence, while the British government attempts to regain control. The film soon develops into chaos & high farce - this is an Ealing Comedy after all, but it gave rise in our house to the expression, "Here in the People & Cats Republic of 'Hagstones'"('Hagstones' being our house name)........followed by whatever piece of government, corporate or cultural nonsense we were determining to avoid. I found myself using the expression increasingly frequently as our refusnik tendencies grew, & I was JUST ABOUT to use it as the title for my long-planned blog, when the unthinkable happened......

The vitally important feline contingent of our micro-republic became very ill, & we found ourselves taking him on that dreaded trip to the vet......the one with the one-way ticket & old blanket. So it was a sad goodbye to our beautiful big ginger & white boy, Siegfried, & as I could not see the appeal to anyone (except weird cat-hating ghouls) of a blog called 'The People & Deceased Cats Republic, etc, etc'. I shelved my plans.

Now, I'm a proper Mrs 'Grow it, Make it, Mend it' these days, so if you have only limited interest in slightly smelly composting exploits, cooking, crafting, upcycling & veggie-growing, then you're in for a stultifying ride & I would advise you to seek out blogs on the variable drying times of domestic paints. I enjoy the simple life, (as does the Big Hairy One) & shutting my door on unnecessary tat, so that is mostly what I shall write about, with a bit of stuff on books, politics, films & music as well
as those random thought-provoking things which
happen (such as how with hindsight my 'Judy Finnegan moment' outside the post office was actually empowering, rather than embarrassing).

I can begin properly this week, as we will once again be The People & Cats Republic - (Hurray!!) We have adopted a new rescue cat. A snuggly cat bed & cupboard full of delicious fishy feotidness awaits. Can't wait for him to arrive so I can introduce him!
Back soon,
C x