Wednesday Hodgepodge - 30/4/25

Joyce is our host for the Hodgepodge and blogs here.  This is her 600th edition of the Hodgepodge.  That deserves a medal or at least a glass of champagne.

1. My very first edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge was published on November 10, 2010 (linked here if you're curious). Tell us something about your life from that era. 

I was working full time as a School Business Manager at the time.  Our kids would have been 24, 22 and 20.  Our daughter, the eldest, was sharing a house with school friends, the eldest son was back home after finishing university and was working for a bank in the city (London) and the younger son was at university in Bristol.  I was also keeping an eye on my Mum who was in a nursing home by that time with Alzheimer's.

2. What's a song you love that relates to time in some way? 

I am useless at remembering specific songs and links.

3. May is nearly upon us. When did you last need to yell 'MAY DAY-MAY DAY!!'? 

Well I don't think I've every yelled May Day but I have yelled help more than a few times.  One specific time at work was when a small child managed to climb through some bannister style bars in a play house and ended up suspended by his neck.  I ended up supporting his weight while yelling for someone to get the Site Supervisor to help with freeing him.  Fortunately we managed to do that and the child was fine.  My nerves were not lol.

4. How do you feel about food trucks? Is this a dining experience you enjoy?  Do you have a favourite What's something you've ordered from a food truck?

Don't often use food trucks although the few times we went to a weekend music festival we did.  We had things like jacket potatoes, or a roast dinner served in a huge (as in plate size) yorkshire pudding but I think my favourite would have been the freshly made pancakes. (With lots of chocolate sauce!) 

5. We're bidding farewell to April...what are three adjectives you might use to describe the month you're leaving behind. 

Busy, celebratory (Hubby turned 70) and sunny.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It has definitely been sunny this week and I've done a "lake lap" a couple of times - there are lots of babies around.

The Egyptian goslings are nearly fully grown.

There was also a duck with at least 8 tiny ducklings but I couldn't get a decent photo of them.  I say 8, there might have been one of two more but yesterday evening they were moving around so fast it was impossible to count them!

The female swan is also nesting at the moment so hopefully we will have cygnets to look forward to as well.

Enjoy the rest of the week all.

A-Z Challenge 2025 - Z is for Zipping

Well I couldn't find any good Z synonyms for waffle or nonsense  so I'll just be zipping through this post.  I feel like I've been zipping through the whole A - Z this year.  A few posts were done in advance, when I had free time on a Sunday for example, but mostly I've been winging it and preparing the day before, or like today trying to get the post done and on my blog before the end of the day.

It's been good to push myself though.

Now, on to the Z countries:

Although I don't officially have a theme I wanted something to link my posts so I thought I'd see how many countries in the World I've visited or might visit. 

There are 2 Z countries:

• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

It probably won't surprise anyone that I haven't visited either of these and am not likely too.

Which means, I think, that I've only visited 21 out of 197 countries - which is about 10 per cent.  Not very impressive.

My favourite trip has to be when we visited the US in 2014 for our son's wedding and also visited Philadelphia, Washington and New York.

Our trip to Australia in 2017 is also high on the list as is the Norwegian cruise we did.  

I'm sure we'll be back to the US at some point but there are still places in the UK to see too.  Our next planned trip though is to France for a family celebration in July - one of Hubby's sisters lives in Dunkerque.

Yay!  26 out of 26 letters done - and my 11th A-Z challenge complete.

A-Z Challenge 2025 - Y is for Yabber

Well I'm not sure if I Yabber. (rapid indistinct talk)  I mean I often talk fast but I don't think I'm indistinct.  Although Hubby would probably disagree.  He wears hearing aids in both ears and I must admit that I don't always talk at him so he probably does miss some of what I say.  I don't mean I talk at him in an inconsiderate way, just that I sometimes turn away when I'm talking to him and that makes it harder for him to hear me.

And then of course there's always an element of selective hearing on his part.

With his hearing and me talking too fast it's amazing we have any sort of conversation but trust me we do.  Although sometimes he complains I talk too slowly - which is usually when I'm trying to explain something to him and I'm trying to phrase things in a way that he'll understand but he gets impatient.  Definitely feel like yabbering then with words he would not want to hear! lol

Ok time for the Y country.

Although I don't officially have a theme I wanted something to link my posts so I thought I'd see how many countries in the World I've visited or might visit. 

Yemen

is the only Y country. 

"FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) advises against all travel to Yemen

FCDO advises against all travel to the whole of the Yemen due to the unpredictable security conditions.

If you’re in Yemen, you should leave immediately."

If you did decide to go anyway don't count on making a claim on your travel insurance - travelling against the advice of the FCDO would most likely invalidate it.

I haven't been to Yemen and certainly won't be going. It would make visiting our son and his family in the US more complicated too as we'd need VISAs and not ESTAs.

I'm not sure how many other countries the FCDO advises against but probably quite a few on my lists.

Right I'm waffling now so time for bed.  Yay, Y is done, only Z to do!

A-Z Challenge 2025 - X is for X marks the spot

Well I couldn't find a word that meant waffling or nonsense beginning with X and there are no countries starting with X either.

X marks the spot - somewhere on the globe there must be a place that starts with X. Actually there are a few places, most of which are in China but there is also Xaghra in Malta and Xcaret in Mexico.  Who knew?

Short and sweet today.  I'm flagging but only 2 days to go!