When I was asked to write for the Haltwhistle page on the Internet, I thought for about all of 2 seconds, and then agreed. I never really gave a thought as to how people would enjoy, or even understand, the way I write, let alone my --sometimes ‘different'--way of describing things.

For those of you who read the Haltwhistle Times, please be patient, as you will have seen much of this before. For those good souls that have just ‘logged on' I hope that you will enjoy this addition to the Haltwhistle page.

One more thing that I must explain, I often use  local ‘Haltwhistlian' words which I will translate as I go along.

I will tell you a bit about myself for starters. I was born here 58 years ago, and now live in the hamlet of Halton-Lea-Gate, which is about 7 miles from Haltwhistle, up on the fells.
From 17 years old I have moved house round about 28 times, have lived in Dorset, Wiltshire,  Hampshire,  3 times in Germany, and various places in the local area.
My family consists of, Trevor, my husband, 1 son and daughter-in-law, 2 daughters and sons-in-law, 2 grandsons, and 1 granddaughter, who are of course the bonniest, most intelligent children that ever breathed.!!!!!

Well that's roughly the background to me, now lets see if there's anything I can blether*  about.

Did you all enjoy the festive season?               I hope so.
On Christmas Eve, Trevor had been out the back getting the coals, when he rushed in, grabbed me, opened the front door, and said ‘listen'.  We stood and heard a sound just like sleighbells.  For a few seconds, it was magical!
The fact that it was Nigel, over the road, blowing his tyres up with a foot pump, didn't spoil it. It just gave us the giggles.

Before Christmas there were ‘taster' evenings for ladies in the Chapel hall here in the village. On offer was Yoga, aroma therapy, computers, beauty advice, counselling, and BELLY DANCING!
I just had to go to that one. 
The young lady who came to demonstrate was that thin, there wasn't a picking of fat on her.  She was so elegant, and we, by comparison, were like a herd of camels.
We all wore various scarves and skirts. I even managed to find a lacy, tasselled thing that I wore during the ‘Flower Power' era.  (Any excuse to make myself look even dafter than usual!).
Also, this is not an easy way to dance.  I was lathered*.  I went straight into the shower when I came home, and I couldn't be bothered to speak until
I'd had a cuppa.    

According to Trevor, it's only the second time he's ever known me to be speachless. The first time was when he proposed, over the phone, after three dates.  He would have had us married by that weekend, but my offsprings wanted a ‘do' so we had to wait three weeks for the banns to hang.
So from our first date 12 years ago, to getting married was all of four weeks.  Not bad eh!

Of course, Trevor being the cheeky thing that he is, delights in telling everyone that the little bit hair that he had was auburn, till he met and married me! One of these days I'll sort him out!

I went into Haltwhistle this morning to watch Daniel.  He's the youngest of the clan.  He was 1 year old on the 7th of January.  (My Dad's birthday)
As we were walking down the street I was asked when the coffee mornings were starting again.
Now I know that, for anyone who does n't live here, it must seem a little odd to be mentioning coffee mornings on the Internet. However, these are great social events here.
It doesn't matter where they are held, nor indeed which charity, church, or organisation they are in aid of, coffee mornings are well supported.
In fact, over the years, the people of Haltwhistle must have raised millions of pounds for different things.
Sometimes there are two, or three on at the same time, and you can hear people refuse a second cup of tea/coffee as they are going to the others as well.
On days like that, there is never any lunch, and you can't venture far from the loo either!

Talking about loo's.  Many years ago, Mam and I went  for one of our frequent days out.  After lunch, the call of nature had to be attended to. I ‘went' first, then paid the bill while Mary Ann sallied forth.  When she returned, I was still at the cash desk. Speaking in a voice that was supposed to be low, but was anything but, said "What a funny place. There were only two toilets, but six very odd washbasins that only had one tap."
That right. You've guessed it. She'd been in the gents! We shot out of there quicker that a bat out of hell.  
I was hysterical with laughter, and it took about an hour for me to settle back down again.
That was something else that she never lived down.