One little plastic chicken Day 3........

Technically this should be day 4 but little chicken was so exhausted after all the excitement of the last few days that she spent all day yesterday font of the TV with a bowl of bird seed.

Now fully recharged she was keen to explore a little further afield and so hopped on the 9:25 to Manchester Picadilly.

She waved good bye to Stoke on Trent sat back and watched the world go by.......

Once she reached the station she alighted excitedly from the train, and began the walk into the city center. She had arranged to meet up with some friends of Little girl and little boys Mummy.

They had been asked to bring with them a portable item for swapping and the didn't disappoint.

As usual Little chicken oversaw the swap and agreed that the black bracelet should go to Miss Peach in return for a paperback novel and Miss Mew Should receive the blue bracelet for a zesty green silicone baking tin- which was handy as both bracelets matched there outfits perfectly ! 

They chatted over cakes and coffee.....

and little plastic chicken took a closer look at the swap items.....

After their refreshment stop, Miss Mew and Miss Peach took Little chicken for a spot of retail therapy, well window shopping anyway, whilst she was all the time on the lookout for potential swapertunities......

ooh Rob Ryan....

Nice use of vintage/recycled fabrics....

After all that a refreshing drink was just what she needed.....

Nice piano..... (Little chicken posing on the C of course)

Chop sticks??


It wasnt long before the next swapertunity arose
An origami butterly....

and a pink metal heart ornament for the zesty green silicone baking tin....

next up a bit more window shopping...

nice patterns....

And all too soon it was time to go home.

You might assume that would be the end of today's events, however little chicken's family loved these new items and so swaps 8 and 9 happened effortlessly.

LB and LG's Daddy thought he would like to read the book in return for an iron man lighter... 

and LG fell in Love with the pink heart and would not let it go intil little chicken agreed to swap it for 

a pot of red play dough.

One little plastic chicken Day 3.......

Two swaps today ! Unfortunately the first was very necessary as the eyelash curlers turned out to be very naughty indeed....

A few mins earlier.....

Watch out little chicken !!

Luckily little boy was playing out in the backyard when it happened, Little chicken felt very lucky indeed.....Phew!

They played hide and seek.....

Little boy wanted to show her some other creatures he knew,

First there was Dot the ladybird that lived under the leaves in the yard...

then was his pet budgie who's name is Birdie....she had often heard him tweeting but had never been formaly introduced.

Next they went to the pet shop round the corner from the house were little chicken met a turtle...

and some different types of fish, little chicken loved listening to the splishy splashy sounds of the moving water...

Little chicken though that there wouldn't be anything to swap at the pet shop as all the animals birds and fish needed the things in the shop.... where else could they go?....  

Oh yes the library! Little chicken had heard people talk about the library lots and she was sure that it was a very generous place, after all they let you take books home with you, so she was sure they would swap things !

The lady librarian was very enthusiastic about swapping and after a little think and a rumage through her locker the next swap was complete...

Eyelash curlers - Coffee sachet

Little chicken made sure the swap went smoothly.

Just a short walk away from the library was the friendliest shop in the world according to little girl, she had often been given sweets by the smiley shop assistants and Mummy often took the children's old things there when the family had finished with them. They were sure to swap.

Sure enough the cheery lady quite fancied a coffee break and happily swapped the sachet for her two beaded bracelets.

One little plastic chicken Day 2........

Little chicken was dissapointed not to visit any new places yesterday so today I promised we would go out and explore with Little girl and little boy. Oh and also the paper clip never was is instead now a safety pin-first swap here we come !

The journey to little girls friends house was quite short and uneventful. Little chicken spenting it daydreaming of what might be instore once she arrived, whilst taking in the blur of sights sounds and smells of the "outside" from the comfort of the buggy.

When she arrived there was much excitement as she was given a tour of little girls friends house....

First the toy shelf...

then the piano..

She particularly liked the bathroom,

Next up was the garden and something she had heard little girl talk about with great excitement a TRAM..POL..EEEENE ! Although of course Little chicken actually had no idea what this was..she was about to find out.

To get to the TRAM..POL..EEEENE, first she must cross the grass- easy for little girl and her friend who ran ahead forgetting how tiny little chickens legs were.

Little girl and her friend helped little chicken onto the TRAM..POL..EEEENE and showed her how to bounce !

She had so much fun she didnt want to leave and nearly forgot about the swap,

Safety pin= Eyelash curlers

Little chicken was determined not to waste the journey back with daydreaming and so insisted on riding on the front seat of the buggy asking to stop at all the interesting places on the way home....

Do you like butter, chicken ?

She nealy fell over when she realised this was a strawberry plant she thought they grew in the fridge !

 Little chicken was very surprised to find a sofa outside she thought they only lived inside houses !

You cant get anything past this little hen, its only some artwork by one of little girls Mummy's favorite printmakers Angie Lewin..... or perhaps it was just the contents of the box she was after??

Familier she thought but she couldnt quite put her feather on it?

Chilling !

Ahhh at last some real flowers, she got in for a closer look and a good sniff beautiful !

one little plastic chicken

OK, so i was supposed to be swapping an item to see what happens with sequential swapping over the next 10 days fro my next uni project. I'm breaking the rules though.... I was supposed to start with one paperclip. But instead after a little looking around have found one plastic chicken. 

I had been feeling a little sad that I would not be seeing many people as I would not be going into college until next Thursday by which time this mini project would be over so began to think perhaps i could make this a very sociable project visiting people id not seen in a while as well as talking to people i see every day but do little other than the everyday conversation. One little plastic chicken was going to be my object for swapping, however I've grown quite attached to her so instead i am going to do two things,

• Find a paper clip for swapping

• Take the little plastic chicken with me as a constant companion on my travels and possibly gather a few traveling companions on the way

Little plastic chicken was getting quite bored being stuck in the house, she had been spotted in various places around the house but
she dreamed of exploring the world outside the front door and do a spot of swapping along the way.

Little plastic chicken knew that she was just a toy but he wanted to see the real world,

to see liquids that are not contained in bottles, taps or baths

Little chicken wanted to smell real flowers

She wanted to experience real art,

Im still here

Its been quite a while and although I am still writing my journal I have been a little quiet here. I guess it is just a reflection of how busy I've been recently, both family life and work life are always in constant battle and there are never enough hours in the day.

All this talk of allotments has made me feel very ashamed of my "little" plot, well it is its size which is half the problem ! It is so daunting particularly when my new neighbour is seemingly such and accomplished allotmenteer already and putting my jungle plot to shame ! She is so neat and tidy, the complete reverse of me, oh well we are who we are no point wishing otherwise. Anyway I do have a greenhouse filled with tomato and chili plants which seem very happy and my potatoes onions and garlic are also looking good, so I can feel happy about that. Unlike my poor peas and courgettes. The thing is I can grow things from seed very successfully as my neighbours can testify as they have been the happy new custodians of my excess tomato plants, but the peas and courgettes after being carefully nearchered were mercilessly destroyed by a combination of birds insects and the unusually hot weather-where were those April showers !

Perhaps in hindsight the jump from container gardener to allotmenter with all the digging and weeding might have been a bigger job than i emagined but I have to remenber that this is a long term goal so progress is likey to be slow and I will have many failiers as I learn the ropes.

There I feel better now :)