Surprise, Surprise

Another Wednesday, another Headbanger Challenge. Due to some difficulties that Dave is experiencing, Kathy has come in at the last minute with 'surprise'. She was surprised too, at being asked to think of a topic on the spur of the moment. My header photo shows Jamie Oliver's restaurant in the city centre. Now there is a very good reason for showing this. Not for the obvious reason of having a top TV chef's eating house on your doorstep, but for the reason that I won a meal for two there at Christmas in a raffle.

Now I'm not generally a very lucky person. Never really have been. My bread always tends to fall butterside down. So I don't know what possessed me to buy some charity raffle tickets that were being sold at the Paul Smith shop next door. I don't know if it was the the wide selection of prizes on offer. The top being a weekend away for two in London, or the fact that it was for a good cause. The Maggie's Cancer Centre at the City Hospital. There were also some obscure prizes available, such as an encyclopaedia of Russian gangster tattoos. I'm glad that I didn't win that! The tickets were £2 each. So I bought two. There's not that many Paul Smith shops in England. I think most of them are in Japan. So I wondered if I might have a slightly better chance of winning. Not that I really expected to. But yippee, I had an email from a marketing person at the company after the draw date saying that I had won a dinner for two at Jamie's Italian. We have not gone yet, but might see if I can book it for Valentine's Day. Give Gail a treat.

Don't forget to visit my four friends' pages, to see how they have interpreted Kathy's theme. And also enjoy this piece of music

I heard on the news yesterday that there was going to be a solar radiation storm over the planet taking place sometime soon. It must have happened last night over Nottingham, as when I went out to work this morning, I was surprised to find this strange silver star in the garden. It wasn't glowing or anything. But it glistened a bit. I managed to find some old netting in the shed and wrapped it up. I then put it in the shed for safe keeping. It really is quite a lovely thing. and fell to the ground without breaking up. Maybe because it is quite heavy and solid. And oh how it sparkles. I don't think any photo can do it justice.