See a penny....

See a penny, pick it up, then all day, you'll have good luck!  IT DOESNT WORK!  I was reaching down to pick up a penny outside Harold Hill Library and Nicky nearly ran me over!

I got knocked right over - notice how Josh's Mum just stood there taking pictures????

I was ok though!  I am NOT going to pick up anymore pennies though!  Well, at least not when Nicky is around!

Dexter x

Thanks!

In Havering Libraries we have alot of fabulous people who volunteer to help us and our community.  They do lots of fabulous things - listening to children read, helping grown ups get going on the computer, delivering books to people stuck in their houses.  Once a year we like to say thank you to them all!  Every volunteer who comes to the event gets a certificate - I helped Viv to write some of them - with her rather fabby pink pen!

And then I helped to cut some bread up!

There was an awful lot of it!

Then I found these!  Just happened across them!  You can see, I am poised to sample them......

....unfortunately, Viv spotted me - darn it!

Hee hee - then I found these!  Each volunteer gets a little something yummy for their tummy!

What do you think....will I be able to sneak out with these????

NOPE!  This is our "Lead Councillor" - he caught me!  - He is very very heavy because he is made of LEAD!...oh, Josh's Mum just told me he is our LEAD councillor...not our LEAD councillor!  So confusing!  His name is Andrew - and he loves libraries.  I thought he might turn a "blind eye" to me trying to sneak out with the chocolates - but it turns out he volunteered as well - so I didnt get away with it!  Shucks!

And here is a picture of some of the volunteers!

Dexter x

Covering for the boss!

It can be hard work at the top!  Ann, our big boss lady, is on holiday this week.  So, before she went away, she briefed me on what needed to be done whilst she was sunning herself in Spain with her grandson.  I think there are other people going too - but she didnt mention them!

Despite my heavy workload (thanks Ann!), I still found time to find her some books before she left!  She likes a good murder....hmmm, wonder what to make of that!

Dexter x

Summer Reading Challenge!

My goodness, its been a busy one this year!  In fact, its been our busiest one yet!

This is the finisher's board at one of our libraries.  In fact, we had 4114 children take part in our Space Hop this year!  Wow - now, ready for some maths?  They each come once to join up, then they come back 6 times to talk about each of their books - thats.....erm....hang on, toes.......erm....yes well, it's ALOT of visits! 

It doesnt stop there for the team though!  We need to do lots of sorting out so that every child who completed the challenge gets their certificate and medal in school.  So first, we sort the cards into a pile for each school!  Some schools have big piles - and some have little piles!  We like the big piles best!

I tried hard to help.  It is not easy, with little legs, to get around all of those different piles and not knock them over.  And then Jacky got her laptop out and put her music on....that really made me giggle - she had some really OLD stuff on there!  Jacky had to talk sternly to me and tell me not to mess around!

Her music choice was very funny though!  Josh;s Mum took a picture of me rolling with laughter!  Luckily this was on the next table - this was the table with all the oddments on - the cards with no schools, out of borough schools, preschools, senior schools etc.  Thank goodness this wasnt on the "proper" table!  I think Margaret might have yelled at me!

Still, we got them all done - now all we have to do is book the assemblies, and get the certificates written, and report the statistics up to the Reading Agency, and get a press photo done and and and - I need a nap!

Dexter x

These are a few of my favourite things....

Now - own up, who is singing the song from The Sound of Music???  We watched it last night!  I don't think I really understood it - all those children!  And Nuns!  And Soldiers!  And singing at every opportunity!  I did ask Josh's Mum if she thought that the people all sang when they went to the bathroom - but she told me off for being facitious...when I find out what that means I will let you know if I was being it or not!

That aside - I really did enjoy the song about the favourite things - so I am going to periodically put up some of MY favourite things!

Shoulder rides!

Tattoos!  Josh's Mum has TWO!!! But I am not meant to tell anyone!

Board games......not this one particularly - but Michael was very proud of it!

Stories - anyhow, anyway - reading, cassettes, CDs, ebooks, MP3 on my ipod - AND you can get them all from Havering Libraries!  Hee hee - just a little plug!

This one is a little cheeky - reading the newspaper over someone's shoulder!!!  Nothing quite like sneaking that peek!   G didnt mind me doing it though - he read all the difficult words for me - I didnt have a problem reading them, but he seemed to enjoy doing it, so I didn't say anything!

LAUGHTER!  Big guffaws, cheeky giggles, sneaky sniggers - you name it....I love them!



*Giggle* Dexter x

Lunchtime gaming!

Josh and I LOVE computer games and Josh saved all his birthday money to buy an Ipod touch.  Josh's Mum had to pop into her office on a day off so Josh and I came too.  Who should we find there????  Colin - our friend from HR (Human Remains?  Hardly Relevant? High Risk?  High Resistance?) - ahhhh HUMAN RESOURCES!!! Sorry, where was I?  Oh yes - Colin was there - he had just finished a meeting and was going for lunch.  SO - Colin and Josh spent a little time comparing what each of them had downloaded....

I had to put my glasses on to see the game he was playing - angry birds!  Colin very kindly took the time to show me how to play the game - he had lots of very good tips for how to get a high score!  In this photo it looks like he was helping me to play the game.....he wasnt!  He was trying to pull my hands off the screen so HE could play it!

And THIS was his face when he realised Josh's Mum had been taking pictures of our tussle!


Very FUNNY!  He did say to make sure that people knew that he was on his lunch break!

Dexter x

I need danger money!!!

It all started so well....there was Ella, Chris and Viv and we were all at Forest Lodge Community Day representing libraries.  Well, actually Chris wasnt representing libraries - he is a regeneration person...I think that's a little like Dr Who!

Have you noticed that we all have BIG smiles!

This is Alfie - he had a big smile too!  He had come from the Children's Centre - I think the ladies behind might have been a little tipsy because they didnt seem able to sit up!

There was an awful lot to see  and do - a nice man said that I could try out his bike...he had to hold me on, so I think it was a little large for me!

I think riding on the handlebars would have been easier!

And this is where it began to go wrong!  Ella thought it would be a great idea for me to have my picture taken with this owl from Myca Falconry!  Now, we might both have wings but thats all we have in common!  He kept giving me a funny look - he definitely narrowed his eyes at me when his owner wasnt looking!  When I wiggled my foot he looked distinctly hungry!

Then Ella took us over to meet the smiley PCSOs - the lady is called June....I know that because Ella kept saying "we must see June!".  I think the man might have been on holiday recently because he looked very tanned! 

Then June and I had a little chat about her Crime Investigation Day down at Collier Row Library....Ella looked like she might like to offer me up as a corpse (I thought she liked me!) so I quickly changed the subject!

AND THEN I GOT TO SIT IN THE POLICE VAN!  Really!  They took the keys out first though.

....and just to prove I wasnt just in the front of someone's car.....can you see me?

Then June let me try on one of the helmets and sit on their satellite dish!  It was quite slippery!  Oh, Josh's Mum just told me it was a riot shield - phew, glad I didnt need it!

At this point you are probably thinking that the only thing that was remotely scary was the owl...but it got worse....

I ermmmm kind of disgraced myself on their riot shield...in my defence (your honour), when I get nervous I do sometimes do little bottom burps...and this one left a bit of a scorch mark on their shield.  I thought they would be more resilient than that!  So June asked her friend to "lock me up and throw away the key!"....

I was very scared!

But then one of the other policemen gave a little chuckle and set me free - they had only been joking!  Well, it did nothing for my blood pressure I can tell you!

Ella, Josh, his mum and I then went to see the agility dogs from the Delta Dog Display Team - they were so clever!  I had no idea dogs could be that well behaved.  So - ELLA decided we should get my picture done with them all afterwards!

I think I smelled a little of the beefburger I had for lunch as the dogs started closing in on me...the teeny weeny Max (not the big hairy Max who was at the back in the last photo) kept snuffling in my ear...and then I am sure I felt a little nip on my wing!

I almost fainted with fear!

My next call was to see the lovely ladies from St John's Ambulance!  A lovely lady strapped me to a trolley in case I rolled off.

Then she listened to my heart and gave me a good check over!  She said that I had just had a "nasty shock" and that I would recover with "no lasting effects".

And I thought Ella liked me!  I need danger money!!!

Dexter x

Choosing a day out.....

What do you do if you have been told you can pick the next family day out...but you dont know where to go?  You go to the library of course!  Now - how many of you thought "I would just go on the t'internet!"?  Well it didnt work for me!  I got 36 kazillion billion hits and it would have taken me about 45 days to go through them all - and what if I spotted one and then lost it?  I would have to start all over again!  I was mulling over my problem when I was at work - and spotted this!

The perfect solution.....

London Dungeon.....nope - too scary!

Smugglers visit.....hmmmm - maybe another day.......

 THIS is where I want to go to.....can you guess why?

 DRAGONS!!!  I cant wait!

Dexter x

Time Management!

I am not very good at managing my time!  No really!  I spend lots of time doing little things...then I get on t'internet and next thing I know....its next morning!  SO - I went and had a look to see if there was a book that could help me....

This one looked like it might be quite useful....I am going to prioritise and make lists and only do the important things and try and get ahead and and and.....
I wasnt sure if I was going to be very good at being SMART with my time......

...and then I saw who had written the book and just KNEW I would be ok....I mean - he is the "Star of Dragon's Den"...I wonder if he knows my mum?


So - the moral of today's post....if you need to know how to do something, where to do something, what to do (to do something!) then just go to your library and grab a book!  Ooooo, make sure you get it issued though, I dont mean just go and "grab" it - you need to issue it, read it and then use the information to help you!!!  I feel like a certain well known fast food place having to put "coffee is hot" on their cups!

Dexter x