What a strange year so far!!!

2020 held so much promise and it seems to have gone hill rather rapidly!! I was looking forward to my big birthday but soon after we were all caught up in the Covid-19 lockdown and thats where I have been ever since.

It has changed the way we all do everyday things, including shopping, and general living 2 metres apart. It has also impacted all our social lives. The places we all go to meet friends are out of bounds, pubs, restaurants  and even shops. I think its fair to say that its going to be a long time before we are able to get anywhere back to normal .

What we mustn't forget is the real reason for all of this, the poor people who have lost their lives, the families that have been changed forever, the Health workers who have put their own health on the line for the better of others. We need to learn from this situation and hope that in the future we are better prepared

Anyway on a lighter note in October last year we went on holiday to Florida and although it didn't fully go according to plan, we ended up stayed two weeks extra as Tom was unwell. We did have a set of photos taken in wild west wedding gear!! I loved the expoerience!!

This is a test!!!

Its been a while, must try harder!!

I have no idea where the time goes to, its now June and the last post was in March!! Life has well and truly got in the way !!

To start with we have had a couple of very nice cruises, one to the Fjords with Cruise and Maritime. We traveled with our friends Rick and Dina. It was a bargain priced cruise, buy one get one free. We chose the cheapest inside cabin and thought we would take pot luck. A couple of weeks before the cruise we we sent our cabin numbers only to find that we had been upgraded to an outside cabin and our friends were still in an inside cabin!! We felt this was a little unfair so we very nicely spoke to the company and explained this was their first cruise and that we were trying to encourage them to like the experience, so they upgraded them as well!!!

Leaving Tilbury!

In a small village (consisting of a co op and a church and just about nothing else!!) somewhere in Norway!

We had some fantastic weather and some beautiful scenery to enjoy.

It was good to wake up to the beautiful scenes outside our portholes!!!

We took a trip on the Flam railway, it was expensive much like everything in Norway. It was a regular train used by commuters, I have no idea how they can afford to travel to work ! our carriages had the addition of a guide who was giving us some of the local information, he came from England and was doing the guiding as a summer job!! We travelled high into the mountain and once at the top the train stopped and waited for the Oslo train to arrive before starting the journey back down to the bottom!

I am going to try and get back to blogging to bear with me!!!

My Poor Neglected Blog!!!

Hello!! Here we are nearly into April and my last post was at the start of February!!! I can only apologise, life has well and truly got in the way.

Lots has been happening, I have been busy with courses at work and I am now a fully fledged Health and Safety Officer. I am sure it will come in useful, but its not one of those jobs that really floats my boat, still another string to my bow.

I am now another year older Boo Hoo ! I had a good birthday and a great night out at a local Indian restaurant. They had a Micheal Jackson tribute act on!

The food was very nice, but the entertainment was brilliant. The bloke put his heart and soul into the performance. The set up of the restaurant didn't make it very easy for him, he had to keen going from side to side , so half the time we could hear but not see him!!!He did a load of costume changes and was pretty good!

The next big trip was my visit to The Houses of Parliament. 

I had a fantastic night, we were shown around by a Labour MP who is married to one of my friends, we had a fantastic evening, we saw all sorts of places not usually permitted . I can now say that I have had a Cider in The Houses of Parliaments bar Whoop whoop!!

The real problem behind my lack of time is making Remember Me Angels  !! I am pleased to say that the orders have been coming in and keeping me occupied. I have been spending time keeping my website and face book up to date. It seems most of my sales are coming through Face book, so I am concentrating on promoting the Angels on there. Please check out my Face book Page

So I will try harder and hope to be a bit more of a regular poster!!!

Have a great week.

Its been a while.....

Well New Year has been and gone, Carl is back in Hong Kong and life is back to 'normal' in fact it seems like ages until we have another holiday, which is depressing. I suppose the dark days of winter have that effect on people.  We are still doing our fair share of hospital visits for just about all of us, but I hope that they sort Laura out first, it has been uncomfortable for her for a few months now, she just wants things sorted out and back to normal. Fingers crossed that she gets sorted soon.

We took a trip into London one Friday evening to see the London Lumiere. We drove to Potters Bar station and that  was the start of the problem!! They had changed to automatic number plate recognition, so we drove in and attempted to pay, sadly it couldn't find my car, we were given a huge list of cars, not one of them was ours!! So we had to call the 'number' on the machine and register my car, credit card and full details all to pay £2 !! Worse than that I registered my car but couldn't get it to accept my card, so now whenever I park at Potters Bar, Rick will get the bill!!! Jolly decent of him I say!!

We got off at Kings Cross and walked around the first area, despite the wintry evening it was absolutely rammed with people!! We stopped to watch as much as we could but some of the places were ten people deep and we couldn't get anywhere near them. This projection on a building was very clever.

It was good to watch, lasted around ten minutes and was also rammed!!!

We moved on and found some other installations!!

We look as if we are doing a bit of a Halloween type of shot here! It was just the 'flower installation'!!!! casting an green glow. 

We enjoyed the bits that we did manage to see, but we really wanted to have a bite to eat and for some reason we couldn't find anywhere with any space, it was starting to be a bit of a nuisance , in the end we had to settle for a posh fish and chip place that was fairly expensive, but we were out of options by then!!! We had a really good night, its was chilly and really felt like a winters night better than that it didn't rain!!!

For the past couple of weeks my friends Jane and Karen and I have been preparing for a bit of  craft sale  in aid of cancer research, it was a low key event on a school night, but we were really pleased with all the support we got from friends and family. We didn't publicise it too far and wide, kept it to a select from people close at hand, we seem to have raised a fair bit of money (we are yet to add it up) So thank you to everyone who came and made it such a good evening!!

I have still been doing some pottery, this term I decided to have a plan of action. Half the lesson I spend thinking about what to do which results in a huge waste of time, so this time I started with a plan. I have decided to make a bird feeder totem pole. I have a picture in my mind that includes lots of different elements. I have bought a metal pole which I will use to support my 'Creation' I have spent a few weeks now making, boxes, houses, a giant acorn, spacer tubes, plates, curly flowers etc. I plan to stack them all over the post and set it up with bird feeder 'stuff' hanging from the various bits I have built into it.

As I say in my head its a work of art which will rival Banksy for its message, I suspect in reality it will Blue Peter a bit of a run for its money!! 

So watch this space for an update !!

I am going to try and keep my blog updated but I  have been so tucked up with my Angels that I haven't had much spare time!!!

This week I am off to Brighton for a conference, can't think that Brighton in February is going to be very welcoming, the weather forecast is dodgy, so I better pack my thermals!

So see you soon, sorry Eunice I have been so remiss in my updating!!

Happy New Year ! Can't believe its so long ago!

Well where did that Christmas break go?? It was so good to have Carl back for the holidays, once he was here it was like he had never been away! Sadly the time flew by and before we knew it he was back off to Hong Kong and the holidays were over. 

We had a good Christmas, met up with loads of friends and family and had some chill time off of work. As always we ended up with far me food than we really needed, every year I seem to get sucked into the huge hype that surrounds the festive season, buy stuff just in case you might need it. The here we are weeks later still finding things we should have eaten ! (I found some double cream pushed to the back of the fridge which was three weeks out of date!!) 

New Years Eve was a bitter sweet affair!! We were looking forward to it so much, its always a great evening, but poor Laura wasn't well, so she didn't make it. Carl was heading off the next day, so that was in the back of my mind. We had a great evening , Grace decided on a Chav themed night, we dressed up as Jeremy Kyle and his audience!!

Madeline looked fantastic with her fake Essex tan and big eyebrows!!!, I had my sports top and false eyelashes.

John and Tom!!

Harry, Beth and Grace with her baby bump.

Carl Alias Jeremy Kyle!!

Getting ready, Beth with her polo top and big hair and make up!!

Midnight arrived and we headed for the garden for our neighbour disturbing 100 shot firework display!!!

 

At the end of the night we were several bottles of port down, 40 vodka shots and lots of wine and spirits had been disposed of. We had 12 cans of silly string, we used them all!!

A fantastic new year !!

Before we knew it New Years day arrived and we headed for the airport. Carl's luggage was over  the weight limit, so we had to do a bit of sleight of hand to make sure that they didn't weigh his very over weight hand luggage!! 

He is now back in Hong Kong and we have booked a holiday with him in October, I can't stand the thought of not seeing him for such a long time. It makes me appreciate still having the girls near by!!!

Happy Mid January, despite my best efforts I still have not won the lottery, I will have to keep trying :)

My Poor Abandoned Blog!!

Happy Christmas!!!

The trouble with Christmas is that its a long time coming and every year we all fall for the hype. I was concerned that we would not have 'enough stuff' for guests over the festivities, in the end we have plenty and some!! 

We have had a good Christmas season, it kicked off for me with a surprise visit to a mini Christmas  market in WGC, followed by a beauty evening in John Lewis, where I won second prize in the raffle and Karen won top prize!! Made it a good night when you add to it a nice glass of Mulled Wine.

Next we met up with Mums Brother and his wife, Uncle Roy and Auntie Peggy. We met at Ayletts Garden Centre in St Albans .We agreed to meet at 12, when we arrived they were already there. Walking through to the cafe, we nearly passed a stall serving free mulled wine, we only 'nearly' passed it, I stopped and got a glass for each of us, fortunately although the others all tried it, not one of them liked it, so as I hate waste I had no alternative but to drink it all.

Tom drove home!!!

We added to our collection of Christmas decorations, this little fella was made by pupils at Lakeside School in Welwyn Garden City so the proceeds are going to a worthy cause. 

Next dad treated us all out for Christmas Dinner at the Beehive in WGC.

Carl and Tom accidentally wore matching tops!!!

Next it was girls night out , we went back to our usual haunt The Crooked Chimney. We usually have the same waitress every time we go, she had been there for the past 12 years. This year she asked for Christmas day off, she has three children and gave them plenty of notice, they said no :(  so she decided to call it a day. Its a real shame, she has been there through loads of different and somewhat odd managers,such as the one who said that even if we booked Christmas meal we could not have crackers or decorations as they couldn't afford them!! Ever since then we have taken a selection of our own cracked and table decorations!!!

So it was a sad farewell to Amanda, what a huge loss she is to their business. 

In the mean time the prodigal son returned and moved back in. It was really fantastic to see him again.

Next night out was with our best Holiday Friends (mark 1) Rick and Dina, they did us a fantastic evening meal a lovely Chinese, followed by 'some' cider, resulting in the below photo!!!

Next we had Sunday tea with our other holiday friends Malc and Debs, another great evening featuring the saucepan game and lots of laughs!!!!

Christmas eve and we had the Reeves over, the usual combination of loudness and fun was had by all including Bobbie who was excited for Santa to arrive!!!

Finally the big day arrived and we opened our presents with Dad and Harry in attendance, Beth and Harry headed off to Stevenage for dinner leaving lunch time for the rest of us!!!

So that's our action packed holiday season........ so far!!! Looking forward to new years eve now !

Happy New Year!!!!

A life time ago!

I am sorry to say that our holiday now feels like a lifetime ago. We have been back for a little over a month and the whole experience is like a dream. We have had our usual mix of issues over the past weeks, with both Laura and Dad being unwell. Both are now on the mend. 

I can hardly believe that Mum passed away two years ago tomorrow, where has that time gone. On the one hand it seems like an age ago and on the other two minutes ago. One of the good things about having an IPhone is that it allows you to save your text and Whats app messages. I was looking through the other night and found the last few from Mum which was a big bit of a tear jerker. We are lucky to have such great friends and relatives who all have helped everyone over these past few years. We will never forget her  and think about her every day .

It was nice to be able to hang one of my Remember Me Angels to keep Mum close at hand all over Christmas. This morning we went to Mass, which was said for her. I was very impressed with Father Norbert who did most of the mass in speech and sign language. I am in awe of anyone who can do that, its like rubbing your tummy and patting your head as far as I am concerned!!

So what else has been happening? I have been sorting out Christmas presents, I had a marathon wrapping spree yesterday and we put the decs up so I was able to store the presents under the tree. I am trying to get the spare room sorted out so that it is all set for the return of the Hong Kong wanderer. We mainly use the spare room to store clothes so I need to get the bed in to position where it can be slept in. I am just about there. We are all looking forward to him coming home for a few weeks. I am looking froward to the school Christmas dinner and the Christingle service, I really feel that Christmas has arrived once I have been to those two things!!

I would like to wish two of my friends Happy Birthday, Karen and Fran, I hope you both had a lovely day.  Sorry that this was a quick update, I will have more time now that I'm a celebrity is over for another year!!! Have a great week.