Wheelie bin news

I got home from choir practice and found one of my wheelie bins tipped up in the road (it’s normally by the gate into the garden). I put it back because it was a hazard being in the road. I’m not tall enough to see over the gate easily and as it was dark I am not going in the garden.

I checked my cctv camera and there was a flicker of light like a torch about 15 minutes after I went out, but no visible people. I’m not sure if anyone came in. Going to look in the morning. I did have a named police officer so I’ve emailed him with the bit of video. This place seems less safe now.

Doodled Halloween costume.

I decided to doodle a mask for Halloween 🦇, but it ended up being more of an extravaganza! Sharp and spikey with googly eyes…. The face has half a mask, half face, but with green lipstick and yellow contact lenses… I’ve never worn anything like this. It might be a laugh to make it up, but I haven’t got a clue how to create it!

Horror films

I don’t do horror films, I think they are illogical and silly. I’m sure I could watch a comedy one, but I get irritated by the serious ones. My hubby watches them and I do some art or read a book…why?

The main character seems to run upstairs when she (usually a woman) is chased. Or goes down into a cellar with a torch that isn’t working properly. Then something horrific happens to a friend who has just called round (in the middle of the night) to see how she is settling in. The result is she hides somewhere silly and dangerous, trying to keep one step ahead of the ‘ghoul’ who has either a mask or makeup to hide their identity. After an hour or so of idiotic chasing where ‘spooky’ activity happens and various other cast members die horrifically being hit on the head with copper saucepans and malt vinegar drownings, eventually she finds the front door (three steps from the bottom of the stairs) escapes, and gets run over and killed by a tractor towing glowing turnips…

Bad news

We got a letter off our energy company today. Our yearly bills are set to DOUBLE. I then saw a video of a comedy programme from the 1970’s on Facebook in which a man is being encouraged to save energy by using a hot water bottle, to which he responds he can’t afford to boil a kettle. Other suggestions include using a car less (he doesn’t own one), eating healthily (on his income he can’t afford to), and heating meals thoroughly (he can’t afford to have his cooker on). It was funny, but it shows things were not so different fifty years ago! Later on they showed a public information film from about the same time. This was to encourage the population to save energy by only heating one room in their home instead of heating the whole house do that the NHS and hospitals would have enough energy to stay open!

Seriously though it does make you wonder about open plan living, maybe people should rebuild internal walls?

Dodgy man

Dodgy man! We came home today and saw a man looking in our hedge. We asked what he was doing and he said he was looking for a box he’d hidden there so his mum didn’t see it. He said it was a ring doorbell that he’d spent £80 on, but he’d panicked and hid it incase she found out he’d bought it. (he was very scruffy and dirty and said he’d been a tattooist but now he sits drawing outside sainsburys). I helped him look while hubby looked in the garden. I wanted to prove it wasn’t there mostly so he would go away. It’s worrying having people put things in the hedge. We have found stolen things in the past we have reported to the police! He eventually left. I felt sorry for him but it was dodgy! Hubby told him if he comes back we will have a ring the police.

I like snakes

When I was little we had a talk at school about snakes and reptiles. At the end the person giving the talk gave us a chance to hold a snake. A lot of the girls were scared, they thought they would be slimy and cold. I don’t think I was scared so I put my hand up and got called forward. I ended up with a snake wrapping itself round my arm. The scales were dry and shiny and beautifully patterned. It was so interesting that a few years later I was at a nature display and held a six or eight foot long python across my shoulders. I also went to an open day a few years ago and held this snake (well it wrapped itself round me). I’ve also found that I quite like tarantulas. I would not have either as a pet, but I do think taking a look at things like this isn’t as scary as it looks, as long as they are not venomous!

Scary?

Scary idea… Self portrait drawing taken from a digitally manipulated photo… Looks like I’m being attacked by a spaghetti monster 👾! Todays #bandofsketchers prompt.

These prompts every couple of days does stretch your imagination. I did take a photo of me pulling an angry, snarling, face, but I didn’t like it, so I went with this instead.

Scared?

Walking round the back of the old house, looking for a way in. The rain was cold and icy, falling hard and freezing on the ground and branches as it touched them….

She needed somewhere warm to dry out. No-one in at home and she had lost her keys? But next door was empty, if she could find shelter she could be OK till the morning?

She pushed on a soggy back door, it gave slightly under the pressure. Then the catch slipped and it flew open into a dusty hallway. Cobwebs hung down from dirty bannisters and old bedsheets covered the victorian furniture. She stepped further in. Moonlight and the sodium coloured streetlights filtered through the grubby windows.

A black cat rushed past her, fleeing out of the open doorway. Somewhere in the distance she heard the distant sound of an old fashioned phone.

Stumbling across the old parquet flooring in the darkness, she started to look for a doorway into a living room or reception room. Anywhere that would be walmer. She gently pushed on a old oak door, it opened a crack, it started to creak so she held her breath and waited. Nothing happened. She pushed again and could see light, orange candlelight. A glow coming from a carved pumpkin, almost out, flickering in the slight breeze from the doorway.

Quickly she stepped in, pushing the door behind her. A covered sofa looked like a good place to hunker down for the night…. She slowly sat down, gently, to make as little noise as possible. She felt something slither across her feet. She looked down, and saw to her horror, a dark gloved hand extending through the floor and reaching up to grab her ankle. A flash, so bright and blue lit the room for an instant. In a second she had disappeared. Gone.

The vets

Before he went missing

Today has been busy. My cat came home at 3am, his legs and mouth had some sort of tarry substance on them. He came in and drank water for about ten minutes, then I wiped his eyes and mouth and legs gently to remove some of whatever was on him. I even trimmed some fur off his tail because it was so gummy.

Today I had a good look at him, one of his eyes looked strange and he was still very thirsty so I took him to the vets.

I found out he has an ulcer on one eye and he has damaged his mouth possibly from trying to bite through or on something. He’s lost a lot of weight too. We still don’t know where he’s been. Tonight he’s on a drip at the vets but he should then be able to come home. I hope he will be OK.