Grumpy Granny's Blog

These days , the most noteworthy aspect of marriages is how they end. Access to children is often an important point but, mainly, arguments between estranged partners centre on money.  Usually, the women is trying to get a share of the joint marital financial assets. I have to say that I am not a great advocate of joint bank accounts.   The idea seems to have its roots in a time whe....

I have just been listening to the "God Slot" on BBC Radio Four. Some songs say it all and that was certainly the case with the first Hymn this morning. The title? "Come With Me Because The Journey Is Long". One of religion's main themes is journeying.  In Catholism, there is even a patron saint of travelling, St Christopher.  I suppose the great sailor Columbus was named after St C....

As you might imagine, I am a great champion for our sex. I demand equitable treatment for all of us. However, in watching Wimbledon in the last couple of weeks (it’s about my 60th time watching this wonderful tournament), it really hit me that ladies' tennis is generally of a mediocre standard. There is just not the variety, quality and excitement that one finds in the men's game. Yet....

I was at Royal Ascot last week. I love the horse racing but I love the dressing up even more! Mind you, fine clothes do not maketh the man. I saw many a well dressed man behaving like a 6 year old child. For example, I was having dinner in the Stag restaurant and bar, when a besuited idiot put an empty glass on our dining table. On being handed the glass back, he glared and threw it under ....

I watched last week's Eurovision Song Contest because I had nothing better to do. Correction: I THOUGHT I had nothing better to do! Even though there was a semi-final stage (apparently there has been for several years but I have never watched) but around 20 awful songs made the final. The songs were so bad that it is difficult to criticise the singers - but I will anyway. The lady from A....

This website sings the praises of cash - and quite rightly. First and foremost, if you have cash you have individual freedom that you don't have without it. A cashless society would be one where individual freedom was curtailed, in favour of central control, whether by Government or card schemes. Some might say that the worst of all worlds would be a card scheme operated by a Government. Sin....

I was reading last week about another actress who has decided to adopt a baby. This got me thinking again about how the rules applying to adoption in the UK need to be changed quickly. It is a sad fact that it is often women who are ill-equipped to look after children who end up having several. Now, I don't want to get into a debate regarding the "Benefits" safety-net, which some people ar....

I love what in my days of innocence were called "the pictures". "Movies" is the more common name now but, whatever the name, I have to wonder if they are as good now as they were way back when. I don't get to the pictures as often as I would like. However, I do stay in touch with most of the latest releases when I fly. A long flight can see me get through 4 or 5 films. Sometimes I watch so m....

It amazes me how many professional dog walkers there are these days. Of course, in one way, it can be portrayed as being good that some employment has been created. However - and it is a huge HOWEVER - I am dead set against this trend. Similarly, I don't agree with people who have children and then pass-off their off-spring to nannies and the like. Too many dogs are for "show" - and, far....

Over the Christmas period, I went to see the film about Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s main opposition political party. To her people, she is simply "The Lady". The Lady won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, yet has spent most of the intervening 20 years under house arrest. Her peaceful campaign against Burma’s totalitarian military regime has been an inspiring contrast to ....

There has been quite a lot of publicity recently about the fact that no women made the shortlist in this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year. As the economy has deteriorated, a higher percentage of those thrown on the scrapheap have been women. The French President, Mr Sarcastic, recently felt he had the right to advise the world that Angela Merkel, the German President, is over....

The Pregnancy Advisory Service is recommending that women stock up with contraceptives, including morning after pills, for the Fertile (er, FESTIVE) Season. This has provoked an angry outcry from Pro Life, an organisation famous purely for its wistful thinking. Of course, in Pro Life’s ideal world, morning after pills would not be required. Captain Sensible and his Good Lady (only one....

We girls like to have our secrets. My secret was always my figure. While I may have looked slim, underneath my lovely dress was usually a pair of "magic pants" responsible for creating the perfect silhouette that was the envy of others. Then there is the fake tan that helps me - and many other ladies -  create a healthy glow even in the darkest depths of a cold, dark British winter. Of ....

You will have gathered from previous blogs of mine that I like my horse racing. Actually, I love it! Now this great sport is being ruined by the British Horseracing Authority, whose brown-nosing of the RSPCA has lead to the introduction of crazy rules re the use of whips in races. The UK has many of the best jockeys in the world. The vast majority of those jockeys -indeed all who are invol....

Being the age I am, I have lived through many "economic cycles". In fact, in my lifetime, the UK economy has fallen off its bike so many times I am a little surprised our small island's financial "wheels" have not been permanently buckled. Of course, every time we are in an economic trough, it seems unlikely we can ever get out of it. This can be slightly depressing until one remembers that we....

I was always a little lazy when I was a schoolgirl. I felt that there was a whole lot more to life than school work. I therefore spent plenty of time getting myself educated at the "University of Hard Knocks" i.e. taking risks in my life away from the secure nests provided by school and home. Of course, when I was a girl there was a lot less pressure on performance than there is now....

I travel a fair amount. They say travel broadens the mind. Sadly, I have found it also broadens the hips. Whether the food is airport or airline, it travels to only one place on my body; and it stays well beyond its welcome. Anyway, apart from eating, what I do a lot of when I'm travelling is talk. It passes the time and you do meet some very interesting fellow voyagers. For example, I bum....

It was a lovely Royal Wedding recently and I think the new Duchess Kate seems like a nice girl BUT already I see warning signs that too much is being asked of this still young woman.
Bad enough that she had to embark on a tour of North American that would have made Christopher Columbus wince.
Worse still that our new Royal had to meet with Hollywood Stars who were painted by the me....

I often skim through a copy of The Grocer on sale in the newsagent where I work part-time. Cosmo it isn't – but it does have some very interesting articles.
For example, although I admit I enjoy a tipple myself, I was staggered (and so probably were the consumers) to learn that the UK public slurped nearly £530M of Stella Artois in 2010! That is almost half as much again as the ....

Did you know that I love the cinema?
I first started going when I was about seven (the Saturday Morning Kids Club at the Odeon, where the main entertainment was throwing ones Kiora carton over the balcony edge) and have never stopped since. Fairly recently I have discovered the delight of HMV Cinemas. They are very "clubby", with cosy auditoriums where they show films that often don't m....

One of my fav shops way back in the 1970s was Jane Norman.
By then I had moved on from Carnaby Street (Swinging Sixties and all that Rock!) to Oxford Street, where JN had a lovely shop.
I remember the shop for two reasons (apart from the fact it shared my name!).
Firstly, the clothes were wonderful - just what I needed to look my best at every occasion (especially since by t....

Every month now for as long as I can remember, the Bank of England worthies who decide what happens to interest rates have decided "no change".
This should of course be reassuring to those of us who have a little debt - we should have no more to pay if interest rates stay the same.
However, as ever, there is a trick in the tail (or in this case, a kick in my curvy ass!) That trick ....

As you know, I enjoy my little jaunts to foreign parts.
Of all the wonderful places I have been lucky enough to visit, Italy is undoubtedly my Numero Uno.
Why? Well, superb weather, great food, friendly people, historic buildings and gorgeous scenery all play their part BUT now another reason has been added to the roster.
ITALIANS REALLY LOVE CASH!
Some of us ....

I stayed in on Saturday - what a mistake!
TV was truly dreadful, culminating in an indescribably bad "chat" show run by Lee Mack.
The basis of this show seemed to be that all the audience had to either be ugly or look like someone famous (or both).
Let's just say that the audience did not let us down - but Lee Mack certainly did.
Lee can be funny but in this awful veh....

I took a rest from my tipping last week- the shock of my first fancy trailing in last was enough for me to hit Mothers (or Grandmothers!) Ruin in a big way.
I had to allow my alcohol levels to return to normal before sharpening my pencil again for use on betting slips!
This weekend is really the lull before the storm (or, if you prefer, the caps before the hats!) since Royal Ascot ....

Isn't this exciting! My first ever racing tip on Cash-is-Cool!
Before I give it, let me announce my preferences in terms of jockeys, the rather important people who asssist our four-legged friends to victory (or so we hope!). Over the jumps, there can be only one selection i.e. the Real McCoy! Yes, Tony McCoy, the greatest jump jockey of all time. Champion jockey for 16 consecutive y....

This week Grumpy Granny tells us all about her love of Royal Ascot and her penchant for a bit of a flutter...
Every year, I am lucky enough to go to Royal Ascot (like a Royal Wedding, but less sermonising!), so I know a thing or two about the Sport of Kings. I love wearing my wonderful hat in the Royal Enclosure - and throwing it in the air when I back a winner! Anyway, now I am no....

Grumpy Granny shares her love of cash, and lets us all in on the inside scoop about how using cash rather than plastic can really help to save the pennies... I have already made clear that I love my cash. I have loved men more, but only for brief interludes. Cash has been my life-long companion.
I keep a good stash under my bed, and whilst I am in no danger of vertigo, it is certainl....

Grumpy Granny talks Bank Holidays, Beaches, and Brighton...
Valueing as I do my little job, I find it a bit annoying that many people welcome the Bank Holiday season because "I can escape from work!".
I am prepared to allow a little slack here (as much as my tummy perhaps) for those who genuinely have horrible jobs but, despite endless trying, cannot find anything better. <....

This week our very own Grumpy Granny shares her musings on a recent visit to China...   I am a very lucky lady. An old friend (most of mine are rather old!), invited me to Beijing. It is a long way to go; but then he is a VERY old friend. Arriving at the airport was amazing in itself: absolutely huge, with more still to come. I would guess it is the largest airport in the world in t....