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!!!!

Frustrated Beyond Belief.

Its been one of those weeks where we have had closer interactions with the medical services than we would really have liked. Back in February Beth hurt her knee in a trampolining 'incident' at school, she hurt her knee and we ended up in hospital. It has taken from February until May for that to eventually heal itself enough for her to be able to walk normally again, when bang on Tuesday her leg gave away and she is back to square one, excruciating pain and very limited mobility. It got worse so we called NHS who helpfully said take her to the Hospital. So we did, they Xrayed her said it was likely to be the same ligament damage aggravated again. They did however refer her back to the fracture clinic for them to look at again. So this morning we arrived at 9.45 for our 10am appointment only to find the clinic was already 90 minutes behind, just how they had managed that when it had only started at 9am is beyond me. In the end we got to see the 'Doctor' at 12pm, a whole two hours late.

He then glibly said well what do you expect me to do???  I said that as he was supposed to be the qualified person here, perhaps we should start by looking at what he could do rather than asking us to guess. He said the result of the MRI scan was OK, showing that the ligament had been stretched and the only way to deal with that was to strengthen the knee. He also said that she needed to make sure that the knee did not give way again, by this point he was really beginning to tick me off, so I asked how she was supposed to do that as it had given way while she was simply walking, not doing anything strenuous. He said she would need to be careful, it was clear at this point his medical qualification must have been in stating the completely obvious. Beth was upset as this has really had a huge impact on her life, stopped her from doing her work experience,  stopped her from working at the pool and has generally interfered with her school life, this arse of a 'Doctor' was not in anyway helpful. The most useful suggestion he made was for more physio, which he told us was out of his control as it was not in his department anymore. I hope that the snotty snivelling cough and cold he has turns into pneumonia and some helpful Doctor asks he what he thinks they could do about it. 

Hunny was feeling left out so she developed a sore on her cheek, so we took her to the vet, who didn't once ask Hunny what she expected the Vet to do. The vet examined her and decided it was likely an infected insect bite, plus her ear was a bit sore, so we ended up with antibiotics, ear drops, and injection and £100 less in my purse. She now seems to be on the mend.

And Chill......... 

Yesterday was beautiful and I managed a couple of hours in the garden, even nodded off at one point, listening to some music that Beth had on the TV. I have been really tired so I must have needed it. Today however I could get really wet sitting in the garden !!! I was hoping to see if I could catch a glimpse of the Olympic Torch as it passes through the town, the weather will have to get a whole lot better before I risk that!!!!

The Life of a Jet Setter.

At last at the weekend we had some nice weather, breezy but best of all sunny and warm. 

I took a bit of time to potter around the garden and noticed that we had a few gaps in our flower beds, so we popped to the garden centre and stocked up on some plants to cheer things up. I am trying to have a garden that comes every year without having to rely on too many annuals, so it was nice to go and look for all those little plants that fit the bill. While looking I thought it would be nice to get some lily of the Valley, but they are not so easy to find, so I may have to do some online research for them. Tom planted them all and watered them in, this morning mother nature has done her bit by supplying some extra water 

to bed them in!!!

Carl has been away for the past few weeks, he has been on a road trip in the USA. He flew to the west coast with his Kilimanjaro buddy Grant, since their arrival they have driven around in a hired RV taking in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hollywood, Palm Beach, Yosemite and all places in between. He organised a surprise for Grants Birthday, a parachute jump!! He said it was a fantastic experience and a 

huge surprise for Grant!!!

 He is very well organised and has left me a very detailed breakdown of his daily activities. Yesterday they flew to Orlando for 8 days there doing the parks before moving on to their final destination of New York. He has been able to keep in contact with me via Whats App, thank goodness for MacDonalds and their free Wi Fi!! The only problem is trying to keep up with the time differences, I have to constantly refer to my phone to work out what time he is in, I expect they are suffering from jet lag this morning!!

Beth is also embarking on a new experience, she is working at Hardings Pre School for her work experience  week, so this morning she has taken herself off, walking to work. She is so excited about doing this as its something she would like to do when she leaves school. I think she would be very good at it!!

Hectic week.

Summer must be here because my front garden is brimming with roses and lavander, I love both and the pink roses in particular seem to be doing very well this year. You can't beat the fragrance wafting on a warm breeze!!

I also have beautiful deep red Dublin Bay rose that is coming into full bloom, my favourite roses are orange ones and in my back garden I have two orange ones, but they are not as far on as yet. 

So what has been happening the past week?? Well my friend Debbie and I decided to do a weekend silver course, We had to get up early on Saturday morning and drive into a small village in Berkshire, the journey was dead easy because we chatted the whole way and I don't remember actually much of the trip!!!

We arrived in plenty of time and chatted in the car park before our instructor Larissa arrived. We had a guided tour of the studio looking at all the work by the other resident artists, all very inspiring, there was some beautiful stuff there.

We go cracking on our course, it was great as there was just the two of us. We learned all about how to work silver clay. We made fingerprints which we transferred to the clay and then we made them into shaped jewellery. I was so impressed with the outcome and I will be looking at doing some more in the near future!!

On the second day of the course we learnt how to make prints from original pictures, reducing them on the computer, I am very happy with the outcome, solid silver and personal!!!

The rest of the week has been a blur of work and appointments, I am looking forward to doing some scrap-booking and jewellery making this weekend.

Missing In Action!!

This last week has passed in a whirl of work, conference and travelling! It started last Monday when I miscalculated the start day of the UNISON conference in Bournemouth. I went to work Monday with loads to do and suddenly realised mid afternoon that  was supposed to be in Bournemouth that night and not the following morning. That's what happens when you don't get time to read the paperwork and assume you know what is happening. So I finally headed off for Bournemouth at around 7pm after having my hair cut (which had been prearranged!!!) The journey down was great no hold ups even on the M25, so it was good luck that I accidentally forgot!!

When I found the hotel, I was impressed with the location which was two minutes from the Conference Centre and there was plenty of parking. I felt like this was going to be a good choice on those two things alone!!! So I checked in and that's when it started to go down hill. The reception area was dated and not in a nice way, the carpet was thread bare and despite boasting a lift, sadly it wasn't in my part of the building, so I lugged my bags up three flights of stairs. I got to my room and the first thing I noticed on entering it was a musty damp smell plus the obligatory two iron shaped burns on the thread bare carpet!! The bathroom was spacious with a spa bath with a shower over it. It was a lovely shade of 1970's green, that matched the green mould growing on the shower seal. The next morning I realised the only way I would be able to use that spa bath was if I has started to run it on my arrival Monday night.

Still my room was spacious, I had three beds to choose from, so after dinner I went back with the intention of watching a bit of telly, I had a free view box and a big ancient telly, but sadly the only way to switch it on was via the remote control, which didn't work, I checked and there were no batteries in it !!!

I asked the lady on reception and she said they hadn't go any spare ones, I'd have to wait until the next day. So I had an early night!!!!

My colleague Mark, had the room next door, it was certainly different. He had the Honeymoon suite, a luxurious four poster bed, complete with lacy curtains, he had a balcony and a sofa, a telly that worked but best of all a HUGE circular spa bath in the corner of the room!!!! It was massive, with steps up into it. There was also a shower over the top and on closer inspection it was the only shower, the tiny toilet had only a loo and hand basin. Poor Mark said it was quite an exposed way to shower and he suffered from the same water pressure that I had!!

So the good things to report - Sea view, comfortable bed and nice breakfast.

They eventually replaced the batteries in the changers, but then forgot to make up my room, so the one towel I had in the room was wet.  On the third night we had a bad storm, with rain lashing the windows, I could hear dripping and the next morning there was a puddle of water by the telly, narrowly missing my suitcase!! I mentioned it at reception (it was now obvious why there was a damp smell) and I received the best excuse ever, well madam it has been quite dry of late so the roof has shrunk and when it rains again it leaks!!! Brilliant excuse.

So if you are looking for a place not to stay in Bournemouth, avoid The Bournemouth International Hotel!!!!

Dancing the night away!!

When on board the ship we went out in the evening to The Caruso lounge, the on board entertainment team were there and before the show they went into the audience and got people up to dance. Well that wasn't to everyones taste and we understood that, but Beth enjoyed it and she was itching to get up and have a go. She spotted a member of the team who seemed rather nice and was very pleased when he came over and asked her to dance!!! The next night another one of them had her up as well!!

This is the one that she though quite cute!! His name is Brendan!

Here they are in action burning up the dance floor!!

Beth wasn't the only one in the dancing groove this holiday......

Tom and Rod had a jolly good time as well!!!!

The Mountains above Flam.

We took a trip into the mountains above Flam, we drove to a Hotel where we had a danish pastry,or should that have been a Norwegian pastry?? The view from the garden of the hotel was breathtaking. A look right down the valley, we headed off there after stopping to take some photos. 

Its hard to take in the scale of these mountains,they are massive!

I have come to the conclusion that I am fast becoming the shortest member of the family, in fact only Hunny is shorter than me!!!

Once we came down the hairpin bends from the hotel we caught a ferry back to the ship, its a great way of getting up close and personal with the scenery. Its amazing to think that the people who live on the shore can only get out via the ferry, its very remote.

We were being harassed by another boat who kept over taking us, I really wanted to get the water still so that you could see the reflections, but the other boat kept ruining that!!

Never one to miss a photo opportunity Beth managed to get herself in on this shot while we were waiting to get on the ferry. Very lovely!!!!

At the end of the afternoon we spotted our ship right at the end of the Fjord it is dwarfed by the surrounding mountains.

Just look at how huge the ship is once we got up close to it!!!

Dressed to kill!

One of the fun things about a cruise holiday is the chance to get dressed up for the formal evenings. This year we managed to find a couple of dresses for Beth she looked fantastic!!

They like to take photos on cruises so we were spoilt for choice when it came to choosing which ones to buy, at the end of the week we had around 30 to look at!!!

I liked the magazine mock up, Beth takes a lovely photo and looks so grow up now.

The second day on board was a sea day which gave us plenty of time to get ready for the evening. Tom and John on the other hand weren't too keen on wearing shirt and tie, so they dressed for dinner and then scuttled back to their cabins to change into something more casual!!

Our third port of call was Bergen. We were taken by coach into the town centre and from there we walked to the harbour where there were some market stalls and a row of colourful houses which are listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. 

The houses are now the home of lots of little pretty shops, pretty little expensive shops I should add!!!

The last time we were in Bergen we needed to withdraw some money, so we found a bank with a great name  - The Fanny Spare Bank!!!!  Brilliant.

Bergen is very pretty sparkling clear water, lots of fresh fish stalls and of course a stall selling traditional Norwegian knitted goods. Beth replaced her wolf hat with a penguin version.

The tiger and Penguin get together!!!

At Sea - Aurora Spotting????

Day two we spent at sea, travelling to our next port of call, the beautiful Flam. The first time we visited it was beautiful although the weather was not brilliant and there was lots of low cloud obscuring the views, this time it was clear and we got to see a whole lot more!!

During the day on the ship there were some demonstrations, a chef carving fruit and vegetables, plus beauty and massage demonstrations. We were also very fortunate to have a sunny day so we sat at the rear of the ship on our special deck absorbing the rays!! We had the deck to ourselves which was even better, like a private balcony without the added cost!!!

On the evening of that sea day we approached the start of the Fjords, the sun didn't set until around 11.45pm, we watched it go down from the disco bar on the 12th deck. It was so odd being so light that time of night.

The moon was out and it was still light AND it was nearly midnight, it was weird!!!

We went back to our cabin to go to bed, Beth was really tired and went to bed and fell asleep straight away . We put on the TV and watched the ships web cam. (its very useful when you have an inside cabin as it gives you an idea of where you are going!!) We noticed a strange yellow glow on the horizon, it was not where the sun had just gone down, it was in the complete opposite direction, we were heading north. So we left a note for Beth in case she woke up and went to investigate.

The picture is not very clear but this was the first shot I took, it was quite cloudy as well as being dark, the camera had trouble focusing. The light patch on the horizon just left of centre is an oil rig.

We watched and the sky gradually changed in colour to the below picture.

The sky seemed much brighter and the oil rig is more in focus, possibly due to the extra light, clouds are still quite heavy though. I wonder if we saw the Aurora Borealis??? Once we arrived in Flam the next morning I bought a post card and I now think that we did see a distant Aurora Borealis.

It certainly started off like the orange glow on the horizon, I think the clouds obscured any spectacular display of the green colours. When I got home and checked my email I found a mail from Aurora watch (I subscribe to their early warning emails) which advised that on the 2nd and 3rd of June there was a high chance of of spotting the Aurora from England, so I think that is what we spotted on that evening. I now want to go and see a real display!!!

Home Again.

We are just home from our lovely holiday, a cruise on the MSC Opera to the Norwegian Fjords.

We drove to Southampton and dropped off the luggage. Tom and Rod parked the cars and we went through to check in. That was painless, we were all photographed and issued with a card, which was our room key and also contained details of our muster station, lifeboat and dining room!!Once on board we unpacked. We managed to get three cabins fairly close together on the Rigoletto Deck. The cabins were fairly cheap because they were at the back but the huge advantage was that we were only a few steps from the rear deck, we made good use of that deck as it turned out to be sheltered and relatively warm.

Before we could leave we had to take part in am emergency muster practice. So when the alarm sounded we donned our life jackets and headed for the muster station.

We all listened to the instructions and hoped we would not need them!!! Our holiday had started and we were off to Ijmuiden in the Netherlands.

Our cabin was very comfortable and considering it was a strange bed I had a very good nights sleep. The next morning we went to the buffet restaurant for breakfast but much like last year it was far too busy and crowded, by the time we found a seat the food was cold. The following day we ate at the restaurant which was far nicer!!

We arrived in Ijmuiden around 10am and took a shuttle bus to the railway station. We then took a train into Amsterdam. It was a stress free journey, to start with we needed coins to buy a train ticket and we didn't have enough, so we got on the train and explained to the guard, he was very laid back about it and told me there were far worse things in the world than travelling without a ticket. He told me to buy one for the return journey!!!

Once in Amsterdam, I went shopping and the rest of the party took a canal cruise. It was a very good day for all of us, I managed to go to my favourite shops, Hema, Xenos and Blokker, they had a whirlwind tour of the city! Perfect. 

More tomorrow!!!

Today we are in Stavanger a nice port with lots of lovely little shops ! We have walked around the market and Beth has bought herself a new t shirt , we have been search of a wooden horse for mad but all we can find are moose lots and lots of moose!!!!
So now we are sitting on the back of the deck sipping a cold coke before heading off to Oslo later this afternoon!
We are still on our quest to try every cocktail on the menu we are on schedule to complete the task!!!!

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Sailing in the Fjords

Stunning views of the fjords!!! We are now se real nights into our cruise and have found that the views have been stunning!!! Loads of snow capped mountains so there is only one thing for it, a warming drink or two to help the cold settling in your bones!!!!
The clouds have stayed away and we have had good weather . We have visited amsterdam. Flaam and Bergen tomorrow it's Stavanger. For some reason we are all tired today and are having a lazy afternoon!!!

Sailing in the Fjords

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