ON SATURDAY, Bill, Andrew, and I took a trip up to Scotland to visit my friend Janet who left our lovely Blackburn to go and live in Kirk in order to care for her ageing father.

I think she found it quite hard at first but now over the years she has happily made many new friends and seems content.

We had a lovely lunch and a long natter at the Selkirk Arms before setting off on the two-hour journey home.

Janet and I always worked well together ‘doing the door’ at the Lodestar and at Never Never Land and most of that that time she lived with us, so to me she is like the daughter or the sister that I never had.

Well, here we are at the end of January; up to now the weather has been very kind, and if we get another week or two like this the winter will soon be over, and lovely spring and its warmth will be just around the corner.

You know there is one very good thing about our weather. “Oh yes, Margo and what is that?” I hear you ask with a wry smile of surprise on your face.

Well, it means we are never ever short of something to talk about , plus it’s something that affects us all and so we all have very strong opinions on the subject.

Most of us will gladly go on about it at great lengths because, lets face it, it affects all aspects of our lives. It is the first subject of conversation we have on meeting someone in the street, so when I come to think about it, that is something we should be very grateful for it, as many a time it’s the only thing we have in common with most of the folk that we bump into, who always want to stop and chat.

What did we do to fill in the spare time before television? That was the topic of conversation the other night.

My mum and grandma, who lived with us, sat and knitted, my dad and my brothers did fretsaw work and as for me, well I don’t remember a time without television – she said, lying through her teeth.

Our first TV – can you believe it now – was one with a nine-inch screen, and if I recall correctly my dad got it especially so we could watch the wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth to Phillip Mountbatten. It was a special occasion, as all the neighbours came in to watch.

My Dad had built a special stone ledge about a foot-and-a-half high, so that nudging the shelf would not put this very new and delicate set at risk.

TV then was such a big innovation. Now I find most people have at least two or more sets and some of my friends, who have to be constantly in touch with current affairs, even have them in their cars.