What a Weekend!

Well, that was a keenly anticipated but exhausting weekend!

On Saturday afternoon the Main Man and I went to Emsworth to meet up with someone I used to go to school with and consequently haven’t seen since 1965 but had driven up for our reunion!  I was a little worried we wouldn’t recognise each other or have much to talk about – wrong!  We recognised each other instantly, fell about laughing, drank tea and ate cake, managing non stop chattering all the while!  There was a lot of ‘do you remember’ and ‘what happened to’ and all those catching-up sort of conversation punctuation!

Her other half is delightful and it soon felt as if I’d known him for years so the conversation was easy – and he (fortunately) seemed to find a lot of the reminiscences quite amusing!

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We left them at the Hotel where they were staying and whipped home to get changed, ready for me to go out for the evening with the Senior Girl, Junior Girl, Senior Girl’s Mother in Law and Sister in Law and a friend.  We headed for Havant Park to watch a Silent Cinema – which was something completely new to me!

Taking garden chairs, blankets and a picnic we set up camp and, being us, were almost the first ones there.  We knew we would have a bit of a wait because the film couldn’t start until it was dark but it sped by as we watched the steadily increasing crowd, waved to friends, watched the small children playing and chatted to each other.  We each had a pair of headphones (Junior Girl was in charge of showing me and her other Grandmother how to work them!).  There was a singer which you could listen to through your earphones if you wanted to – or not, if you didn’t enjoy it.

Eventually as the stocks of alcohol and nibbles were diminishing, it was dark enough for the film to start.  On with the earphones and we were off.  The film was ‘The Greatest Showman’ which a lot of people seemed to really enjoy – although it is not a film I would want to rush to see again!

I took my earphones off at one point, just as a test, and there was silence everywhere.  Very odd to be surrounded by 500 people and not hear chattering!

It finished at midnight and was cleared very speedily – an unusual and fun evening.

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Although it was hours past my bedtime when I got in, I was up in the morning by 6.00, feeling slightly jaded and also very nervous about the afternoon – you will be familiar by now at the way my stomach reacts to nerves etc!

I had – by some sort of default – ended up organising a reunion of our school year at The Brookfield in Emsworth.  Of course, it was very difficult tracking people down, especially the women who had changed their names but I did my best and those of us who could make it all duly turned up.

Hold the thought that we are all 70 now and mostly hadn’t seen each other since 1964 – and also one member of staff who turned out to only be 10 years older than us although looking much younger than some of us!

So much gossip, so much news, so much hugging, some sad news, some glorious news, some ‘do you remember’, some ‘whatever happened to’ and the discovery that one of them used to live in this house!!!

The archivist from the Facebook Group drove down from Derbyshire to bring some amazing display boards, with old photographs, copies of some brave people’s school reports (not mine!!), programmes from Speech Days and so on.  It was worth being there just to see all his documents – how can we ever have been so young!

It was worth all the effort to see people there who I miss and we all had a great time!

If you are on Facebook you may well see photos of this event – they are floating about!

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Pretty sure that I can say, without fear of contradiction, that if you actually saw a young child being abused, you’d do something about it.  But what about if the abuse is verbal?

This morning we were having breakfast in the garden, when a woman was shouting and yelling at a little girl (my guess would be 6/7) using the most vile language.

Should I have done something or is this now acceptable? Isn’t this just as serious because of the long-term effect on the child?  As it was, she had to spend the day at school, knowing her mother thinks she is something really nasty.

I was too slow, not to mention in my nightie, and didn’t take any action but it is really worrying me.  If she swears and curses at her like that, what happens indoors?

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Sorry this is a day late, but when I got back yesterday I just needed to watch Poldark and then sleep!

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Have a good week, stay safe and treasure those you love.  xx.

Happy Father’s Day

Update: MP – well, what do you think?  You’re right – nothing!

Update: Rats.  A bit of excitement when a largish van pulled up outside the house and two men in hi-vis jackets appeared.  I whipped out and enquired if they were from the council!  Nope – they were from Southern Water – the house was the end of the drains and it was blocked and they had to clear it.  I helpfully hold him about the rats and he looked delighted!  He enquired how people could let their house get into such a state and I backed off quickly in case he should think I was a friend of theirs or something!!

Update: Wedding Ring – done and looks brand new!  So pleased I can wear it again.

Update: Eyes – I have had a letter changing one of my appointments and now am expected to see two different people at the same time!  I shall be ringing tomorrow.

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Went to the doctors again this week for some more talk about my kidneys!  Apparently they are only functioning at 30% but, and I quote, ‘this is not unusual in the elderly’!!!  What?  Who? Elderly?  After looking at my notes, she pointed out that now I was 70 I was entitled to a Shingles injection.  I muttered something about arranging to see the nurse – but no, she did it there and then!

I am now on the same tablets as I was originally on and have to have another blood test in a month!  I note that I am not too ‘elderly’ to have that done!

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Today is Father’s Day and a day when I really miss my Dad.  As I was thinking about him I was struck by how many men I have in my life that I am so privileged to still know and love.  Obviously the Main Man, our Boy and the Cyclist.  But I have my brother, who I love dearly, my special nephews, each so different and each loved for who they are, and some very special friends, here and across the ocean (yes Friend, I do mean you!).

Trust me when I say I never forget what a lucky woman I am.

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I know I’ve mentioned it before but I do enjoy going on coach trips!

This week we went to London to visit Kensington Palace, and the coach parked very close by in a public car park where cars cost £8 per hour to park!!  When you consider you are taken to your destination and picked up from the same place, an escort walks you through the gate and hands out your tickets and is also full of useful information I think it compares more than favourably against going under your own steam – and it is totally stress free, and includes ‘comfort’ stops!

I have visited the Palace before with the Senior Girl but the Main Man had never been there and we had a lovely time just strolling about looking around.  The staff there are kindness personified – nothing was too much trouble!  ‘Secret’ doors were opened for us, lifts took us up and down – help was on offer everywhere.

There is currently an exhibition there of some of Princess Diana’s clothes – my goodness how long ago since they were worn and yet how recently it seems.

We stopped in the café for a cup of tea, and I was queuing up with my tray when a young lady on the till beckoned me over.  Reluctant to lose my place, I pretended not to understand but she left the till and came over to me.  ‘Please come to me and I will serve you’ she said, so I walked over causing some muttering behind me.  She swung around and said ‘Why would you not want an older person with a stick to be served before you, when waiting causes you no pain’!

We visited Diana’s memorial ‘Sunken’ Garden where almost all the flowers were white and smelt heavenly!  Outside the Golden Gates, an attractive young lady saw the MM taking photos and asked if we would like her to take one of us together.  She pointed out she was French, but she knew what she was doing.  So very kind, and after thanking her we strolled away to take evasive action from a young woman on a ‘Boris Bike’ – she apologised for the near miss and said she came from ‘Chicago, Illinois which is in the States’.  Had a lovely chat about the differences she was noticing and she said the main one was how friendly the English were and how safe she felt!!!

Just as we were thinking we’d walked enough a helicopter came in very low down and landed in the field behind the Palace.  Unfortunately we couldn’t move fast enough to see who it was, but by the time we arrived it was down, the door was open, a black car drove away and the police car was parked by the hedge.  After a few minutes, it took off again and we were none the wiser!

By the way – we noticed that the Russian Embassy is slap-bang next door so I suspect their government know all the comings and goings!

It was a good day, we dozed on the way home and got back at about half past eight.

I really would recommend this way of seeing things – unless, of course, you’re travel sick!

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I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day and are looking forward to a good week.

xx

 

Just Bits and Pieces

Update:  Rat issue – no developments at all.  Spoke to the ‘man at the council’ again and he has threatened the house owner with prosecution but that seems to have no affect at all!

Update: MP – I wrote in December and again a couple of weeks ago, pointing out I had not heard from him.  This week I had a reply from the somewhat exotically named Kirandeep Grewal who is apparently the Personal Assistant to my MP.  He much regretted that I had not received a reply but was now looking into the matter and would be in touch again with his findings!

Update: Eyes – getting worse but I do now have TWO appointments on the same day within an hour of each other!  I rang to see if this was an error but apparently not and I should just return to the waiting area after my first appointment!

Update: Kidneys – who knows!  Blood test every week and two this week – all with the same result!  I have the distinct feeling that no-one knows what to do next!

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As many of you will know I grew up from the age of three in the same house on this estate.  All the neighbours had children and these were my friends and playmates.  As we grew up we drifted apart, but mostly we still keep in touch, in a rather half-hearted way, and often by word of mouth but we tend to always know anything important.

I was deeply shocked to hear that one of the boys had died and I am now of an age when I can say ‘at only 63’ without sounding stupid!   The only time I have seen him in recent years was at the funerals of his mother, his father and his sister-in-law but that didn’t matter.

It is his funeral next week, and we shall be there with my brother and sister-in-law, and I expect there will be others there from the old crowd too!

RIP Tony.

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Thinking about the past – in three weeks’ time I shall be at a reunion of people I started Grammar School with in 1959!  There won’t be a large crowd but I am so looking forward to seeing some of them that I haven’t seen for years!

I imagine it will be a non-stop gossip afternoon, full of ‘do-you-remember’ and ‘whatever-happened-to …’  There is one member of the staff from that year coming along too – but she seems to be the only one still alive!  I wonder if a crowd of people all turned 70 will still recognise people they first knew at 11?

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Sometimes someone close to you will confide in you about something that has happened in their life and you feel heartbroken as you listen to their story but you know you are absolutely powerless to do anything about it – although you long to dish out a good smack to someone!

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Went for the first of this week’s blood tests and the phlebotomist was an old friend.  She has just become a Grandmother and has already discovered the special joy that only a grandchild brings!  We were reminiscing about the birth of our own children when we had to stay in hospital for a week until feeding was established.  You were taught how to bath the baby and all the small tips new mothers were grateful for.  Now – nothing!  She brought the baby home from hospital still not bathed.

No wonder there is so much depression and anxiety with some young mums!

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I’m not sure if it is the result of my kidneys (possibly) or arthritis (more likely) but my fingers have started to swell from time to time.  The last time, my wedding ring was cutting into my finger and it was a nightmare trying to get it off. With judicious use of shampoo, I did eventually  remove it, but was a bit too scared to put it back on!  I have hated not wearing it, after 44 years, and so took it to a jeweller to ask if it could be stretched.

It’s been done and I shall collect it this week – so hopefully I hall be wearing it again soon!

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Sorry this is all a little ‘bitty’ but I type as I think so hopefully it will all make sense!

Have a good rets of the weekend, and please do take care of yourselves.

xx

Holiday Heaven

I wonder what your idea of a good holiday is?  Perhaps it’s spending time with family or friends that you don’t often see or perhaps it’s being somewhere with guaranteed sunshine and lazing on the beach all day, or perhaps camping in a field somewhere and cooking over an open fire.

My idea of a good holiday is visiting somewhere new and exploring historical sights, good food and a comfortable bed. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have visited a variety of places, both in this country and overseas; I’ve flown across oceans, been on cruises and driven across this country; I’ve seen things I had never dared hope to see and experienced life changing events.

That said, every single year the Main Man and I go off to the same place for a week, which I have been told is a really boring way to spend my time!  However, this year was our 35^th year at Churchwood Valley in Wembury, Devon.  We started the year after my Mum died when my Dad eventually could make it clear where he would like to go (as a result of a stroke he couldn’t speak more than half a dozen words).  He wanted to go back to see the place where they were married – so off we went!  (My Maternal Grandparents had lived there after being bombed out in the war, and I went to the local village school (at that time just a two-room building, which is now a house) when Granny was very ill and we stayed so Mum could look after her.)

The Senior Girl was about 6 then, and she still comes with us every year – now it’s her, the Cyclist and the Junior Girl, who wouldn’t miss it for the world!

What makes it so special?  Peace and quiet – no WIFI, no phone, no bar or clubhouse, no swimming pool – just nature all around us.  We stay in a log cabin with a patio where the Cyclist is in charge of organising the barbeques.  We’ve had to upgrade over the years to a larger cabin – now we have two bedrooms and bathrooms plus a separate bed in the sun room, well equipped kitchen and all you could need.

The owners are very special people who work endlessly to keep things up, they know us by our first names and always have time for a chat.  If we need help (as has happened more than once) they are there for us.

So, what on earth is there to do?  We walk down to the small, rocky beach, passing the stables on our way.  We have a cuppa in the beach café and sit and just relax.  We walk across the cliff tops, visit the church (for old times’ sake).  We sit and read or just talk to each other.  We feed the squirrels and the birds, watch the horses in the water meadow and do nothing – we just are!

If we want to get out and about for a day we are only about 7 miles from Plymouth.  We can get to Dartmoor Zoo in under half an hour (have you read the book or seen the film ‘We Bought a Zoo’ – this is the one) or Buckfast in about three quarters of an hour.  (That was this year’s joy – the old steam train between Buckfast and Totnes.  The restored old station is just like something out of Brief Encounter while the waitress is more like Mrs. Overall without the stockings!).  There is a Rare Breeds Farm at the station or a Butterfly Farm along the road.  Of course, for me, there is the Abbey to visit!

This year the Abbey is celebrating its own millennium but, to me, it is an absolute miracle in itself!  Free to park, wander around the different gardens, including the new Millennium one, a nice café, a gift shop, a book shop – and the Abbey itself!  Just a place to wander or sit and think.

We always go and visit Auntie J who is our oldest living relative and celebrated her 90^th birthday this year.  She is not perhaps as fit as she was and has problems with her hearing but she still has a very sharp memory and we share laughter (and sometimes tears) about the past.  Of course, as is typical in our family, she isn’t really an Aunt but is the widow of one of my Mother’s first cousins but she has been Auntie since I was born so it certainly isn’t going to change now!

Now I know that there will be people who think I’ve finally lost the plot and they can’t think of anything more boring – but Wembury is where I experience pure bliss – and it really is home.  In fact, all being well, it is where the Senior Girl hopes to scatter my ashes when that time comes!

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Now, after all that pastoral wanderings, here is a tricky question for you.

If someone is born with one white parent and one black parent, they are usually referred to as biracial and I can see why!  But, why do so many biracial people refer to themselves as black? Obviously, no matter how pale-skinned they may be, they wouldn’t call themselves white but they do not refer to them selves as biracial, using phrases such as ‘as a black woman’, I’m a black man with a black heritage; I’m proud of being black’.

Is there no simple way of them referring to themselves as biracial and acknowledging both sides of their heritage?

Just wondering.

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After a glorious week of sunshine, things are back to normal here now – the grass needs cutting, the plants need watering and there seems to be a mountain of washing to deal with!

Hope you are all well and happy.  Enjoy what is left of your weekend and get some relaxation time.

Take care and stay well.  xx