Never, ever, never rest on your laurels. Never say I am taking time off to drink home-made lemonade and fall in love with Monty Don. Don’t spend too much time floating in a bath of rosemary salt or slip into bed before it is even dark four nights on the run. Don’t plant opal basil, cut night scented stock and arrange it in a vase next to your bed, or spend an entire day mastering the conundrum that is the gluten free cookie. Don’t play snakes and ladders, buy yourself a new handbag, or console a broken hearted friend at the nursery gates. Don’t cry through Joan Didions Year of Magical Thinking, make forests full of broccolli trees for your babba or spend an afternoon just watching cartoons with him, because that is all he is up to doing. Never wander around the local Lavender farm. Don’t bother making a carrot cake or tomato and chorizo soup. Say no to sheets kissed with residual sun, and a child free Saturday all to yourself. Don’t, please, whatever you do, garden in gentle May rain, laugh at Diary of a Nobody so hard you cry, or line your linen cupboard in scented paper….
Because my Darlings, if you do, the universe will pay you back by making your computer explode when you finally decide to switch it back on again.
Thus BrocanteHome will in the short term be coming to you from various locations around the North West of England, while I figure out how to replace a laptop on a budget that is stretched by bread and milk…
If I could send hand-written letters to each and everyone of you in the meantime, I would. But never mind. A change is as good as a rest.
The Brocante Round-Up! 
The Brocante Round-Up! 
The Autumn House 
Notes From Isolation 
You are as always welcome for tea, toast and techy typing.
Oh , so glad your back, missed you. Hope you are able to work everything out with the computer, they can be such a problem at times and so missed when they are not working properly.
Off to the craft room…… http://www.fariebees.blog.com
So sorry to hear your computer exploded.
It's fun to read what you did on your little vacation though !!! I hope it will be possible for you to replace your computer. Sending lots of luck you way !!!
I Hope you are able to work everything out with the computer!
I am totally dependent on it, and can`t imagine one day without it. Soon i am going away 4 weeks on holiday to Norway..wonder what i am going to do. Borrow the nearest one i think..uh…sending lots of luck!!
…wait a minute. I'm writing all this down, especially the part about the chutes and ladders…
Okay. Phew! Glad you warned me.
Good luck with the 'puter!
Missed you while you were gone. I have become addicted to checking out your blog every day! That is a real shame about your computer letting you down. How we come to depend on those things. Good luck solving the problem.
Been there, done that.. Cross my fingers, leggs (ok, not if I get lucky;-)) arms and anything else for you and send you good thougts.
Alison, I don't know if there's anything like this in the UK, but in parts of the States they have what are called "freecycling" groups; you can either trade something that another person wants for something of theirs that you want (in your case, a computer), or you can match up with someone who just wants to unload a good computer (for free) to get the latest model instead. Maybe you can google the term to see if there's anything like that in your general area.
..the words law and sods come to mind…:-)
Oh so sorry to hear that you are having computer troubles.
And if I had your address, I would send hand written letters to you, meantime. I've done that in the past… On a mailing list when someone lost net access for a bit.
You know, there is much to be said for a handwritten letter. Or note even.
Mari-Nanci
Hi, Added a new value add to my blog this weekend – a news widget from http://www.widgetmate.com/news I always wanted to show latest news for my keywords in my sidebar. It was very easy with this widget. Just a small copy paste and it was done. Great indeed.