A Long Wet Summer :(

Well we are back from our summer holiday and although we enjoyed ourselves, there was one major draw back, it rained every single day. Some days just  drizzle or two to let us know it was there, other days we were treated to the full force of Mother Nature, Thunder, lightening, rain, torrential rain. We became expert at dodging the weather!!

Our holiday started on a wet Saturday two weeks ago, we drove 280 miles to Holyhead in Wales. We were  driving to Ireland. The holiday was a bargain, we rented two cottages in different parts of Ireland and paid with them with our Tesco Club card vouchers!! All we had to pay for was petrol and food. 

We arrived in Dublin in the afternoon and drove north to the first cottage in the little town of Castle Blaney, it was a fairly easy drive up the M1 towards Belfast. The cottage was lovely, very well equip and comfortable. It had full central heating, which by the end of the week we were using on a daily basis!

You can check out the cottage HERE It was spacious only four of us rattling around in a cottage for 10!!

On the first day we were tired so decided to take a drive to the nearest beach which was around 20 miles away, it was a quaint little town in County Meath called Bettystown!!!

We went to the beach which was just about deserted and totally windswept!

It was freezing cold so after a brisk walk we headed into the town and Beth found a mini fun fair, where she seemed to be the only person who wanted to ride on anything!!

You can see from the stunning blue sky what the weather was like!! We went back to the cottage and realised that it was really winter and not summer and put on the central heating!!!

The next day we headed for Belfast and the Titanic exhibition. 

This year The Titanic has been in the news, its a hundred years since the ship sank on its maiden voyage. It was built in Belfast and the exhibition was on the original construction site. Its a really popular exhibition and we were on the way where I thought I would check out if pre booking was needed, thank goodness for iphones and the likes because I had to book our tickets on line, by the time we got there (in the pouring rain) it was fully booked!

We walked around the exhibition, it was very good the building was full of information about its construction and about the passengers, there was a ride that took us through the construction process. Outside there was a representation of the ship laid out in the pavement. The tall brown spires in the above photo represented the launch path of the ship when she left Belfast.

Tom is looking over the front of the ship, his Kate Winslet moment!!!

Before we left we stopped for tea in the very elegant restaurant, drank out of cups like those that went down with the Titanic, it was a nice end to the trip.

While we were looking around we noticed that there were some television vans outside, the ones with the big satellite dishes on the side. There were loads of Police around, so we were wondering what was going. Later that night we were watching the news when there was an report welcoming back the Irish Olympic team, they were invited to a reception at the exhibition.

Olympic Fever.

This year has been dominated by The Olympics. For a long while I have been involved with various aspects of the games in a planning capacity. I really wanted to go and see something, but was not lucky enough to be allocated any tickets. I went to the local flame relay and that made me feel even more like going to see something, but the reality is that the tickets are still very hard to come by even though Lord Coe assured us all that there were thousands of tickets released for sale every evening.

Finally I hit upon a great idea that I was sure no one else would have thought of, the men's Triathlon. This race was to take place in a largely public arena, Hyde Park in London. The web site said that 90% of the course was not ticketed so all I had to do was turn up and grab a piece of the action. I was certain that there wouldn't be too many people there, so I talked Tom into attending with me!!

Tom drove to Cockfosters underground station and he parked, while I went into the station to buy the tickets. There was a good ten minutes before the train was due to leave. I was pleased to be on the way. As I reached the stairs down into the station I had to join a queue, already my plan of being one of only a few people turning out was looking dodgy. By the time I got to the ticket office the train had long gone, the automatic ticket machine had given up the ghost and the poor bloke in the kiosk was frazzled.

We eventually bought our tickets and headed for the train. We were right at the start of the line and had 20 stations until we got to Hyde park. We had a seat, but by the next station the train was heaving with people carrying flags and deck chairs, all it seems, heading for Hyde Park.

The train got busier and busier and by the time we got to Hyde park there were thousands of people, so many that they closed the station to people trying to get on so that they could use the entrance as an exit! We joined the crowds and shuffled along up the escalator and stairs and out onto the street. On the street we were greeted by 'games makers' who directed us into the park. We managed to find ourselves a spot right on the barrier and waited. 

The crowds got thicker and thicker, we chatted with people on either side of us, a family from Kent, two mums with small children who had no idea what was happening (the children not the mums!!) A family from the Netherlands. Everyone was chatting and cheering the Police Officers cycling up and down. One of the 'Games Makers' got a Mexican wave going, it was a fantastic atmosphere!!

Someone nearby told us that the swimming part of the Triathlon was finishing and that they would be on the way soon. Within minutes the first cyclists appeared.....

We were pleased to see that one of the Brownlee brothers was up there with the pacemaker.

It wasn't easy to take photos, they were so fast and gone in a flash, that combined with the wriggling children  in front of us made it very hit and miss!!! I took loads of photos and got a few I was happy with.

The camera car was from Belgium, why?? don't we have any of our own???

After the cycling we left as the crowds were just too much to go to the running part of the race, Hyde Park station was still closed so we were directed to Knightsbridge, on the way we passed the Korean base hotel, they were putting on a show and inviting people in to view their team and stars!

Once we got down to the platform the first train back to Cockfosters was too packed to get on, so we got the second one which was supposed to go to Cockfosters but during the journey decided to terminate at Arsenal, so we all had to get off and wait for the next train. That was packed we got on, and that terminated at Oakwood, one stop from Cockfosters, so we had to change again. 

I am glad that I went, it was tiring but well worth the experience. Best of all it only cost us the price of the train ticket, I am just disappointed that so many other people had the same good idea as me!!!!

Missing for a while.....

This summer seems to be flying past, I am finding it hard to keep up!! Right back at the beginning it seemed like it was going to be a long 'warm' summer, but instead of that we have had a wet summer, a damp thundery summer. On Friday on the spur of the moment we decided to visit Tom's sister and husband in Whitby. He did all the driving  and  I was lucky enough to be a lady of leisure in the passenger seat!! In all he drove around 500 miles on the return trip!!

Whitby was nice as always, with for a change a patch of lovely weather, we actually got down to the beach for a couple of afternoons, it was packed and the sun kept appearing from behind the clouds.

We sat near to the inflatable slide which was great for people watching, it was funny watching people approach the slide, ask the price and then decide if it was worth paying the money for a couple of minutes peace. Some of the kids went on and got straight off again, they didn't get value for money!!!

We went on a little boat trip, just out of the bay, around the Whitby Bell and back again. Its amazing how the recession has hit everywhere, a few years ago it was £3.50 each this time it was £2.50 ! Bargain!! The sea was really calm when we got on, but once we reached the open sea, it was a completely different and became a bit more exciting!! Its strange how different a trip in a small boat feels to a trip in a ship!!

On the way home we came across a beautiful field of poppies. I spotted it on the way to Whitby but we were past it before we could stop. On the way back I was on the lookout and found it with time to stop.

The poppies were well established and although there were lots of red ones, there were also a lot of poppy seed heads in the wheat, it was so pretty waving in the breeze.

Finally I have been making beads again, this time a special request from Mum who asked for a pink and white necklace, so I used some of my white beads with pink spots and some of my pink beads with white spots, she was happy with them, so I made the necklace with them and some faceted sparkly glass beads.

Very Odd weather day.

Its been one of those weekends,  in fact one of those weeks. We have had summer and autumn within the space of a week. We started with some lovely hot weather which was so hot that you had to stay in the shade and drink loads of water to survive it. Then today we had some fantastic clouds, bright warm sunshine and thunder and lightening!!! Several seasons in one hit.

We are into the Olympic competitions in a big way now. Its been really disappointing to see that just about every venue has loads and load of empty seats. I applied for seats in every single release and never got a look in, I am not counting the stupid offer of a seat at the opening ceremony for nearly £2000 each, that offer did not mean that these games were for all. We watched the diving today and all the lower tier seats were empty. Its not only unfair but its not very supportive of the competitors. I hear on the news tonight that Lord Coe is saying that the forces and teachers can use the seats. What about the millions of other hard working people?? Police, NHS and the likes?? It makes me so angry.

I have also been angry this week when my car insurance renewal came in, Tesco seemed  to think that it was OK to charge me £441 to renew with them. I had already decided that I would not renew with them even if they had been the cheapest in the land because they changed the breakdown cover mid was through the policy and didn't tell us until we needed to use it, so they were off my list. I got onto compare the market and found that the RAC were offering exactly the same cover for £169, reducing my monthly payments from £41 to £14. I was good and phoned Tesco to let them know and they were not impressed and tried to slag off the cover the RAC were providing. When I checked the Tesco Policy it was underwritten by the RAC!!!

During the warmer part of the week I rediscovered my love of home made lollies, when I say lollies, I of course mean home made blocks of solid ice on a stick!! I started to get quite sophisticated with the flavours, as you can see from the one in the photo, there is a tint of red in the middle, I threaded a strawberry onto the stick before freezing the whole lot. Unfortunately this lolly did not take kindly to being photographed and when I licked it it stuck to my lip and tongue and it hurt a lot!!!!!

77 Years Young.

This weekend we celebrated Mums 77th Birthday. She has come such a long way in the past year. Last year she spent her birthday in the rehabilitation centre at Bishops Stortford. At that stage they didn't think she would be able to come home because she couldn't walk well enough and she couldn't get in and out of bed at night. Well she is back walking enough to get her into a wheel chair and into the car, which means she can go out for something to eat. She has been working with a physiotherapist who comes to the house and has made a difference. 

So we went out on Saturday night for a bite to eat at the Cowper Arms at Digswell. The food was nice but the service was very slow, it gave us all a bit of time to chat!!

In the winter I decided to try and attract a few birds into the garden by putting up a feeding post. I hung fat balls and seed feeders expecting to see blue tits and sparrows, in reality I have attracted the big boys, Doves, Magpies and Pigeons!! They seem only to like one of the two feeders and are really brave landing on it even when the dog is in the garden and the bunting is flapping around. I sat in the garden and watched these doves feeding, they were only a couple of feet away from me!!

We think that these three are a family the one on the left doesn't have its full markings as yet so its likely to be the baby. The three of them are often on my feeding station!! I am currently restocking the seeds at the rate of 2lbs a week!!!

My all time love is orange roses, so last year when changing the garden around I treated myself to a a new hybrid tea rose, it has finally flowered but is a bit of a spindly specimen, with only two buds. Its a beautiful colour so I will have to feed it up for next year.

This pretty little rockery plant is flowering again this year, someone told me what its called but I can't remember its name, its a vegetable name but I can't think what!!! It must be my age!!!

Graduation Day.

Today we attended Carl's Graduation Ceremony at Middlesex University, Hendon Campus. It was a great day! We decided to travel by train as parking was an issue, so we left from St Albans Station at around 11am. We arrived in Hendon and caught a cab to the Campus, where we joined a huge long queue waiting to register. There were three Graduations planned for today, we were on the middle one so there were still people left over from the first one milling around. 

Carl went to the robing room and came out all set up with his gown and mortar board.

In the presentation marquee we were shown to our seats, a quick look at the brochure and a look around the hall we realised that there were around 400 graduates plus two guests for each graduate so it was pretty packed. We had quite reasonable seats and were so proud when he went up to collect his Bachelor of Arts degree.

All the way through all I could think about was Harry Potter and Hogwarts!! It just looked as if we had walked into the set of the film!

Congratulation Becky and Carl, two Nicky B graduates!!!

The surroundings were lovely, but the quadrangle where we were in the above photo was like a green house, glass roof and lots of people, it was melt down time.

Once we got home we gave Carl a little present to commemorate the day.

You can never have too many pens when you are a newly qualified teacher!!!

The Cat is out of the Bag.....

I am looking forward to tomorrow, its Carl's graduation at Hendon Campus, I can't believe that those three years at Middlesex University have flown by, it seems five minutes ago that we were taking him down to the halls and helping him move into his new home. He has worked very hard and has graduated. Perhaps best of all he has secured a job. 

He has known for some time that he had been successful at the interview, but until we reached the end of term he hasn't been able to say where he would be working. So this week he has been at 'his' primary school helping out at sports day and meeting his class. He is starting to look at teaching plans for next term. Its very exciting for all of us. This is a very special first job as he is going to be teaching Year Three at his old Primary School, Panshanger !!! 

Its so strange to think he is going back. The children there now have no idea that he used to be a pupil. When he went on year five and six school trip he took his own year six sweat shirt that all his class members had signed, amazingly it still fit him in the body, although the sleeves finished at the elbows. The children didn't understand why he was wearing one of their shirts and he had to explain to them!! 

So we are very proud to have two children in full time employment in such tough times, we have concentrate on getting number three through her exams next year and onto A levels so she can decide what to do.

On a lighter note, while Carl was away, I thought I would 'try' and get into his car, its one of those small Smart Roadsters which is tiny and very very low. I wanted to give it a go when there were very few people around, well I did it!!! I can't believe it !!! I only managed the passenger seat because the steering wheel is a bit of an obstruction!!

Wha Hay, Small Victories!

The Boys are back in Town

Today started quite early with a trip to Heathrow Airport to collect Carl. He has been away on a mega trip to USA taking in LA, San Francisco, Orlando and New York. They seemed to cram a whole lot of activity into the time including visits to famous places such as Hollywood, They saw the New York Yankees play and managed to get themselves a free promotional baseball cap each. They swam with the dolphins and did a tandem parachute jump over California. I knew he was doing that but it came as a bit of a shock when he told me today that the original company they had booked with cancelled after they had an accident in the plane the day before their jump!!! They had a fantastic trip and he is in bed now trying to get through the jet lag!!

I was hoping that there would have been some sort of Olympic decoration up at the Airport, but instead of that there was a whole load of building sites and miserable staff.

Wonky Signs and scant notice of car park entrances. Which resulted in us circling the airport for so long that Carl actually made it into the arrivals area before we could find the car park entrance!!!

The only cheery thing was this huge green man a nod towards the coming Olympics!!

Once we finally picked Carl up we headed for home listening to all his exciting stories. He bought us all a little gift, I had asked him to get me some Ibuprofen (as its dead cheap and come in packs of 500, no questions asked!!) So he got me a 1000 tablets!! He got all of us Hollywood key rings and he got me a replacement for my car aerial !

Independence Day Mickey!!! I have had a few different ones from Disney, I like Minnie Mouse but they are just about impossible to find, I love this one!!!

I have cracked on with the washing and five loads later I am finally getting some of it in off the line nice and dry fingers crossed that  I get the last few bits dried before the heavens open!!!

I am looking forward to seeing all the photos of his trip, he has shown us the video of the sky diving which looked amazing, bring on the rest!!!

Wet, Wet, Wet......

This summer has been a total wash out, its been really disappointing it seems to rain every single day and I am fed up with the constant damp and miserable feeling that goes with it .

The only thing that seems to be flourishing  is the garden. The combination of plenty of rain plus the occasional bit of sunshine means that the garden has gone into over drive with the grass growing a mile a minute so it seems!!

This little plant grows in a tray that I have planted up with rockery plants, every so often it springs into life and flowers, it hasn't done so for a couple of years, but obviously this year it likes the conditions!!

This rose is called Oranges and Lemons, for years it has been hidden under a conifer, but last year we got rid of all the trees in the garden and it seems to be flourishing. I love it.

This is an alium, we bought three huge bulbs back from the Floating market in Amsterdam last summer. They flowered earlier with pretty purple flowers, they are now going to seed. I wasn't sure what to do with them but this morning after a night of torrential rain and wind they have fallen over, so I will have to cut them back. I am glad I managed to get the photos yesterday!!

This little flower is a pink Geranium, its a very hardy little beast and it has self set all over the garden and is becoming  a bit of a weed, I leave it where its not a problem and thin it out where it over runs!!

My all time favourite is lavender, I have a huge bush in the front garden which smells glorious under the front window and I have two further bushes in the back garden. I have also been given a pretty pale lavender plant, which I am going to plant out soon, near to my back door (thanks Karen!!!) The plan is that it will flower and I will be able to smell it gently wafting in the warm breeze, assuming that we ever get any warm breezes ever again!!

Getting into the Olympic Spirit.

This weekend I nearly got ticket for the Olympics. I first of all applied in the first round to get tickets for anything really, just so that I can say I went and watched. Sadly I was not lucky in that round, although friends and neighbours told me how they had managed to get four tickets to the Mens 100 metre finals or even the heats of the Roman Greco Wrestling (what ever that is). So I applied in the next two rounds and still never got a sniff, so imagine my excitement when I received an email from the Olympic Ticket Allocation office advising me that there were tickets available for the opening ceremony, Whoopee I was on my way, until I went on line to buy the tickets, the only tickets left for the opening ceremony cost £3,600 EACH, bargain!!! There went my trip to the Olympics!!!

Today the Olympic flames came to Welwyn Garden City, so that was the best chance we have left of getting into the Olympic way of things. We got there around an hour before it was due to arrive and within a short amount of time the place was packed with people.

People were standing 4 and 5 deep on the pavements, there were thousands.

The street vendors were out in force. 

The Police were out in force, I have never seen so many!!!

At last after a wait of an hour the flame arrived, carried by a Deputy Headmistress from a school in Watford, she smiled and waved all the way down the road. She passed in a flash and the moment had passed. We packed up our stuff and the heavens opened, we got absolutely soaked walking from Parkway to the bus station. On the way we met loads of people that we knew it felt like a great community experience. Afterwards it was great seeing all the photos on face book and spotting ourselves in the crowd. I came away with a few freebies, a medal, balloon, flags and a bottle of coke. Not a bad day out!!!!