Rainbows

I took my daughter back to Lancaster yesterday in preparation for her final year at university.  After unloading all her possessions and taking her shopping I had to drive away alone which was quite a sad time.  I know she is happy to be back in her house and will spend hours rearranging the rooms and her belongings to make the place home.  
As I drove home through amazingly changeable weather, I encountered brilliant, even blinding, sunshine,  torrential rain and gusting winds.  At one point I came upon the most colourful and closest double rainbow I have ever seen.   Of course, as I made progress forwards the orientation and placement of the rainbow shifted, but at one point it appeared as though they were both touching   land on the motorway - imagine digging there for that mythical pot of gold!   How I wished I was able to take some photographs but sadly being on a motorway that was just impossible - no stopping either allowed, or sensible - what a shame.   I travelled with these beautiful colours for some miles before losing them which made the solo return journey that little bit easier to take.

New growth

Until the really bad winter of 2010/11 I had a lovely, tall cordyline in the garden.  It had got to the tree stage.  It survived the first bad winter we had the previous year, but sadly succumbed to the prolonged cold, snowy period over the following winter and lost all its foliage till I was just left with a bare stump.  I know I wasn't alone as I saw so many dying off on my drive to and from work.  All the articles I read about it said that if I left it alone it would grow back but it didn't.  Gradually other foliage grew up around the stump, although it still sticks out like a sore thumb, I have been meaning to cut it down but for whatever reason I didn't get round to it.  This evening whilst watering the garden, I was delighted to see it growing again  just not in the same place.  It seems to be making vigorous efforts - perhaps the wet spring gave it the boost it needed - and is now tall enough to stand out above the rest of the foliage.  Just to see it growing back where it belongs has given me great pleasure.

The Blessings of Children - of all ages

Gosh such a lot has happened in the last couple of months and now here we are on the cusp of new beginnings.  
Firstly we got on the university visits merry go round again.  This time with our son, who has very firm views about where he wants to go and is not easily deflected.  This is good as it meant that we only had two universities to attend, although we had to go to one of them three times!  Initially he wanted to study History, until his father put the notion of American Studies into his head.  That was it for him - heaven on earth.  He did have to choose other options as well though, so he stayed with his intial choice of history.  One of his university choices didn't offer him a place - we were not surprised, it was what we expected, but the others did.  There were only two others, one offered him a joint honours course in History with American Studies but he would only get one semester at an American University and he really wants a whole year there.  Actually he would ideally love to transfer the rest of his course to an American University but that is a whole other story and not likely to happen.  That was York St John, a lovely university, right in the heart of the city of York - and consequently the car parking charge for the applicants day was eyewatering.
The second university we visited (again and again) was Hull.  Initially we went for a History Dept Applicants Day, with a short visit to the American Studies dept at the end of the day.  American Studies invited him to return for a full Am Studs Dept Applicants Day.  What can we say about Hull?  It is a lovely, warm, friendly and inviting university who give a profound impression that they really want the applicants to study at Hull.  When we returned for the second Applicants Day, as we walked into the lunch room  (Yes at Hull they feed their applicants and families - the only place that does and it all adds to the welcoming feel) as I was saying - as we walked into the lunch room, our son was greeted by name by staff who not only knew his name but remembered what his interests and passions are.  Now that is impressive.  If he wasn't already sold on the university and department, he would have been after that.
Hull is now his firm choice and his insurance choice - different departments though.  We are now at the stage of applying for Student Finance and university accommodation.  
The major hurdle to be overcome now, of course, is the grades.  Least said . . .

Tomorrow our daughter flies home from her third year, Year Abroad.  For some reason it appears that the Year Abroad, always has to be heralded with capital letters.  As she says, it is very strange to have come to the end of the Year Abroad, as it has been a huge part of her life for so long.  Long before going to university she knew that she would have to do the Year Abroad, and she spent her first two years preparing for it and worrying about it, then she lived it for a year and suddenly - it is all over.  She doesn't ever have to think about it again - well not after she has got the cultural essay handed in.  In October she will go back for her fourth and final year at university and then the real stressing will begin - oh yes.  What joy . . .

. . . or not!

In the meantime, I am just going to relax and enjoy her being home and being able to just phone her whenever I need to speak to her, rather than bashing my head against a wall because she won't answer texts or emails.   She can sort out her own problems, banking, hospital/doctor visits and not leave it to me to do whilst unable to get her to communicate with me. . .

... unless she needs something.  Which again is another story.

What a blessing children are.

Time at home, then a return flight

Well it has been great having my daughter home for a few days.  She did a lot of sleeping, and chilled out at home most of the time, except for the day she spent in London with her friend.  In all her rail travelling around Europe over the past few weeks, she managed to keep all her belongings with her, and arrived at her destinations, frazzled but intact.  Hahaha - one day on a train in the UK and she reverted to type, realising only on arriving home that she had left something important on the East Coast train when she alighted in Leeds.  Of course Mum did all the laundry which she tipped out of her bag.
On Saturday we had a good day together - out for lunch and a little shopping, then home to watch DVDs together whilst munching on freshly made cinnamon rolls - yummy.
Early on Sunday morning we had to be up and at it to get her to the airport for her return flight to Germany.  Getting her up wasn't so easy but we got out, only to be thwarted by the speed restrictions in the miles and miles of roadworks on the M62.  
She arrived at the airport check-in desk  to be told that she was two minutes too late to check in  and the airline wouldn't accept her.   We were told to go to the SAS customer service desk to arrange to get the next flight, but when we got there, they were adamant that they couldn't do anything about it and she would have to ring customer services in London.  Fine - except that the number they gave us wasn't accepting calls, so we were given another number in Germany - that number was wrong but the man at the desk was adamant that it was the right one.  Funny though, whenever either of us tried it we go a recorded message saying that the number was not recognised.  Eventually he gave us another number - in Belgium!!!  Needless to say, that didn't work either.  In the end she gave up and booked another flight on a different airline even though it cost her a king's ransom.
On that flight an attendant took her handbag off her and put it in the overhead lockers, several rows away from her which caused her great anxiety.  In her anxiety to retrieve her handbag on landing, she ended up leaving her purse and tablet on her seat on the plane.  Cue a phone call in floods of tears - she was by now totally exhausted - but all ended well as the staff who were cleaning the plane retrieved them and brought them to her in the arrivals hall.
I don't know about her being exhausted by her travels - I am.

Last railway hiccup - I hope

Beth landed at Manchester at around midday and headed for the railway station.  I phoned as she was arriving there, to see what time to expect her, she kept moving all the time we were talking but even so there was a sudden cry of - "that's my train just pulling out!"  followed by a rant about the extra numbers of people travelling on Easter Monday - mostly that the majority seemed to be moving slowly with no real intent or purpose, who had all slowed her down.  (!)  Anyway I decided if she can sort herself out in foreign railway stations, English ones should be no challenge to her, so I said "see you later" and left her to it.

I picked her up from our station at about half past three and my goodness do we know she is here!  The contents of her rucksack are spread all across the sitting room floor, and she has gone off to Tesco to investigate the Ben & Jerry's.  I think it is going to be a heavy laundry week as everything she took with her now needs washing, including what she came home in.  She was drinking a J20 just as the plane hit turbulence and she ended up wearing the majority of it.  I should think we will just about get everything sorted before she flies off back to Germany at the weekend.

Noisy car

Well as Beth has stayed in the same city for a couple of days, there have been no travel problems for me to resolve.  It appears that she hooked up with a few people from the hostel to wander around Rome which is probably a very good idea.  Unfortunately whilst they were on the train into the city, there were lots of Romany children swarming around and generally being a nuisance.  This seems to have been a distraction technique and resulted in one of the males in the group being relieved of his phone, which she said had put them all on edge.  Apparently Beth was hugging her bag to her chest all the way.  Thank goodness.
Our car has been making expensive sounding noises for some time - whenever we went over a bump in the road a creaking or scraping sound was heard.  I was afraid that the suspension was in trouble so eventually we bit the bullet and took it into the garage for investigation.  We were somewhat relieved when the mechanic said that they couldn't find anything wrong, except that the covering for something had come loose and worked its way out of place catching against something else (possibly the wheel arch, but I can't be sure) so they had just cut it off and thought that it would do the trick.  We were in high spirits as we drove home, thinking that we had been spared an expensive  repair.  
The very next time we drove over a speed bump - there was the sound again - grr.
Not sure what to do now.

Mia figlia - il Viaggiatore

Today's communications started at around 9.45 with a phone call - "I just booked a reservation on the train to Rome and the guy has given me a reservation for a seat on the train leaving at 3pm, I asked for the next train, which leaves at 10.59" - remember that Rome is one hour ahead of us at the moment.  My response to that is the usual - "why are you telling me - what can I do from here?"  The searingly honest answer came back - "nothing but I just wanted someone to whine at" 
So - I suggested that she should either go back to the guy who sold her the reservation or grab someone else who looks as though they work at the station and explain her problem, but of course she only had a few minutes to do this in.  Shortly thereafter a text arrived, "all sorted" 
 Next text - "pray for some miracles today" , my response - "why?  Do you have to make connections?"  
"Yes"
"you do actually realise that you are in Italy don't you?"  
"Yes, that is why I need miracles"
An hour later "hey, I got the miracles."

A couple of hours later whilst I was in town I had a missed call.  I never heard it, nor did I feel it vibrating in my pocket. For some reason I needed my phone just after she had rung and I found the missed call.  It was yet another plea for help - no surprises there then - the tablet wasn't working and she didn't know the address of the hostel, could I go into her emails and find it for her.  I could remember all of it except the post code, so gave her that until I was home.  Once home I was able to give her not only the address, but also the name of the Metro station close to the hostel.  Before I could do that however, I had received yet another text which made me smile " Thieves everywhere!  Trying to get money off you for "showing" you how to use the machine.  I have never felt less guilt for shouting at a child"  That one text message told me just how tired she is.   I must remind her not to let anyone push a flower into her hand at the Spanish Steps, because she may lose it with the men who do that and then hold out their hands for money.

In some ways I envy her, but I also feel very sad for her.  I envy her the freedom and the opportunity to travel in this way, but I feel sad for her because she is seeing so many wonderful sights and isn't able to share them with anyone.  For me part of the joy of Rome was to share it with my husband as we were travelling together.  It is a city of such contrasts, great antiquity and alternatively great modern buildings, great wealth and great poverty.  I also hope that she has got very comfortable shoes with her because it is a city which is very hard on the feet.  Gosh I remember blisters on my blisters - that was so painful.

Further tribulations of the traveller

OK so yesterday seemed to go well for my only child of the female persuasion.  By that I mean that I didn't get any phone calls demanding my help.  That was yesterday ...

By 8.20 this morning I had had three phone calls.  Admittedly I had missed two of them.  On the third occasion she rang on the land line to say that intermittent internet connection was once again causing problems.  She had had an email from the hostel she is booked into in Rome advising her that she needed to contact them urgently otherwise she would lose her booking.   It is Easter week in Rome after all and they could have let her place many times over.  The city is usually packed out out over Easter and  I imagine the (Catholic) world and his wife want a chance  to glimpse the new pope etc.  Not surprisingly the hostel wanted a deposit for her dorm bed.  The trouble was that she had managed to get a glimpse of the email but the internet connection wouldn't stay long enough for her to deal with it, so Mum needed to sort things out.  I managed to text her their phone number, email them to say that she would be in touch and provide the usual reassurances.
Later I got an email from the hostel to say that she had been in touch by phone and all was well.  I wonder what is coming my way next...

Prodigal daughter

My dear daughter has been spending the third year of her degree course in Germany.  She has been working in a gymnasium as a language assistant, helping to instil a better quality of English into the students.  Hmm, I hope it is a case of do as I say, not as I do.

She decided to spend the Easter holidays interrailing around Europe with a friend.  Well that was the original intention, as things turned out, the friends she intended going with found that life intervened and they were unable to go.  She was left with two options – the first was to decide not to go and the second was to go alone.  To her great merit, and my discomfort, she chose the first option - she’s a brave girl.   

Did I say she was brave?  On day one she caught a train early in the morning, heading for Nurmenberg, from where she was to take a coach (why?  I thought this was called interrailing for a reason) to Prague.  She hadn’t been on the train for an hour before she rang me in tears, sobbing uncontrollably, because she was miserable and overwhelmed.  I tried being sympathetic, but that doesn’t help greatly, in my experience, the more sympathetic I am to her, the more upset she gets.  Eventually I pointed out that she had made the choice to go on her own, and that from now her options were limited.  She could either carry on with the trip on her own or she could change direction and come home for Easter, but whichever choice she made, she needed to stop crying as she was making herself much more vulnerable by doing it.  Many people seeing her upset would offer to help and not everyone would be doing it for altruistic reasons.  Whilst it is sad to be suspicious of people with good intentions, a single girl travelling to several European cities on her own cannot afford to take chances.

Eventually when she got on the coach from Nuremburg to Prague she fell asleep.  The worst of problems looks so much better after a good sleep and my guess is that she didn’t sleep well the night before she started out.   By the time she arrived in Prague she was feeling much better, and our Skype conversation that evening was much more positive thank goodness.

She enjoyed Prague the next day, posting a photo of a humungous cup of coffee which she had bought to warm herself up.  It was so large, I queried whether she was intending to drink it or bathe in it. 

All was so much better I began to relax and think that things would progress more smoothly.

Ha ha ha ha

That will teach me.

From Prague she travelled to Vienna and from there to Salzburg.  Her idea was to spend a day in Salzburg and then take the night train to Venice.  It would have worked fine, if she had only read the timetable properly, and arrived at the railway station at the time the train was due to leave, rather than the time it was supposed to arrive at its destination!   Then something apparently went awry with the night train to Venice and it was no longer a viable option.  That meant getting on an earlier train which would arrive in Venice around midnight, and booking a room in a hostel for that night.   Easy.  Wrong, not easy – the hostel was booked up.  There was no wifi on the train “they lied to  me Mum”  which necessitated a phone call to Mum, “can you book me a hotel in Venice?”  Yes of course – that isn’t difficult – a hotel for the price of a hostel, on the same day and in Venice – yeah I can do that!  Amazingly – I could!  I sent her the details and she booked it.   I can’t claim to have been comfortable for her to be walking around a strange city at midnight but it couldn’t be helped.  Then I got another phone call about 11pm our time, midnight in Italy, to say the train was delayed and she was worried that she would lose her hotel room, so I had to email the hotel and let them know about the delay.  Then 45 minutes later yet another call, she had arrived but didn’t know how to get to the hotel and the battery for her tablet had run out of power, so I had to text details to her.  Finally I got a text at 01.05 to say that she had arrived “safe and sound” at last I could go to sleep – thank goodness!

She has been at this for less than a week, and there are another two weeks to go, - will we survive?  Oh my.

Snow

So far this winter hasn't been too bad.  Some icy conditions in early December which hung around for a while, then it was reasonably mild until a couple of weeks ago.  January brought a blast of freezing weather which covered much of the country with snow.  Here in our little corner of the world we have mostly had the best of the weather - a light dusting of snow for a few days which froze to the trees and shrubs imparting a stark beauty, breathtaking in its simplicity.  This week however we have had two heavy snowfalls.  The first of these came overnight on Sunday and before  7a.m. on Monday morning I was awoken by a strange scraping sound.  When I looked out of the window I was greeted by the sight of a group of neighbours clearing the road from the very top of the hill right down to the main through road.  It made such a difference to the accessibility of the street and was a great blessing to us.  The street is a steep hill and turns a corner half way down.  As it turns the corner there is a row of houses across the bottom of the hill - guess who lives right in the middle of the point where the road comes down to that row of houses?  Yup - us.  If any vehicle lost control on the hill - it was our dining room which it was going to hit!  In light of all that, the snow clearance was an extra blessing to us.    The snow on the lawns and uncleared areas hung around all week although it was gradually thawing.  Last night however we had another, heavier snowfall, and awoke to a thick blanket of white.  This time we were up and ready to get out there with the neighbours to help with the clearing.  Not only is it beneficial to everyone who lives on this street but it is a great opportunity to get to know more neighbours.
It is too easy to live insular lives and never get to know the neighbours  but doing simple little jobs together to benefit the whole community, creates opportunities to come together in amicable companionship and to begin to chat in a way which a wave in passing just doesn't do.
 

A Tale of Three Holes

A couple of weeks ago I was awoken early on a Sunday morning by a horrendous racket outside my bedroom window.  Startled, I rose and looked out of the window to the heartsinking sight of workmen breaking up the tarmac and making a large hole in the road to the side of the house.  This task apparently required a crew of three.  Once they had got the hole under way they retreated to the cab of their lorry and out came the flasks for a tea break.  They sat there for about an hour until another truck arrived with yet more workmen who had a look in the hole then joined their colleagues for another tea break.  A quick word with them elicited only the information  that they were from the Water Board, so presumably they were looking for the source of a leak.  Eventually they all put their tools into the back of the lorry and drove off.   The next day an enormous truck with an excavator grab turned up with a couple of chaps, who picked up all the rubble and earth which the previous crew had left piled up at the side of the hole.  They first had to remove the safety railings and posts which had been placed around the hole.  When they had removed most of the detritus with their big shiny toy, they took out brooms and carefully swept all the small dust and mess up, leaving the area clean and tidy.  The question is  ... WHY?  Why did they take it away instead of putting it back into the hole?   After carefully replacing the safety railings they piled back into their huge vehicle and drove off.  After yet another three days another crew arrived, filled the hole in and replaced the tarmac on top of it.
Three days later a van turned up with two workmen who examined another part of the road but seemed perplexed by the setts.  They were so baffled they had to go and sit in their van for a while to think about it before driving away.  An hour later they were back with a supervisor who appeared in another van, they inspected the road again then had a meeting in the van before the supervisor got back into his own van and left.  Next time I looked out, the men had removed the setts and carefully piled them up at the side of the road, they then dug yet another hole and placed yet more safety railings around it.  These were a real pain because of the position they were in right on a bend in the road which created problems for cars trying to get round them.Two days later the big truck with the excavator grabber turned up and did its thing again, leaving the area around the hole clean and tidy once again, - these two are very good at cleaning and tidying - bet they would make wonderful house-husbands. When they arrived though, the first thing they did was to drive over the warning signs advising of roadworks and a narrowed road!!   Then sure enough, a day or so later we had yet another crew on site, filling in the hole.    Despite my reservations about how they might repair the road surface they did a good job of replacing all the blocks leaving little sign of disturbance.   The neighbourhood breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Well that was a bit premature!

A few days later they were back and we went through the whole rigmarole again, with even more inconveniently placed safety signs and railings, the visits from the three different crews and all their various accoutrements.  This time however they made their hole around the inspection chamber and judging from the muddy stains on the road they may just have found what they were looking for this time, but as I didn't see any signs of any repair work being undertaken here (or in the two previous holes) I won't hold my breath.  They left yesterday - Thursday - so they will probably be back on Monday or Tuesday to make more of a jigsaw of the road.

Emptying Nest

It's been a strange and sad week in our house.  On Sunday Elizabeth left for Germany where she will spend the next academic year as an English Language assistant in a Gymnasium right down in the south of Germany.  It has seemed so quiet without her and walking away after watching her go through the departures gate was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  I know we are used to her leaving for university, but that is not too far, it is drivable in a couple of hours at most.  This is not.  I don't miss the noise she makes, I don't miss the squabbles between her and her brother.  I don't miss the shoes, coats and assorted accessories strewn around the house, but I do miss her.  I miss her most when I want to say something to her and she isn't here.  I can't even just phone her because she only has her mobile and it would cost both of us a fortune, and when it comes to texts - she believes in using as few characters as possible.  Even if the answer is simple and a yes or ok would do - what I normally get is "k"  K for goodness sake - would an extra character matter so much?  'K, I suppose it must.  To get useful information from her by text usually means about 20 texts between us, and this morning when I texted her a question I got the reply "consult Facebook"   ?*!*?*!  Not a happy mummy!!

I think she has found it an eventful week, she had to get to Cologne by train from the airport at Dussledorf and then find her hotel.  First she missed her train and then got a little lost in Cologne quite late at night. I was very relieved when she Skyped me to say that she had arrived safely, although the Skype connection was very poor.    

She had a couple of days' training at a centre in Cologne before travelling onto her school.  The training was accommodated in a former monastery, where abbey bells still ring about 5 times through the night!  She was so unimpressed by that!  Mmm - Elizabeth + mornings + lack of sleep - not a good combination.  I'm so glad I wasn't there.  I will only say that maybe she might have been a little crabby.

She has now arrived at her host school and will be settling in tomorrow morning bright and early.

Meanwhile back here, I must learn not to go to her room looking for her, and not to pick up the phone to call her at random times.  Most of all I need to make the most of the peace and quiet, because it isn't really that long until Christmas when all the bickering etc will start up again.

Speaking of Christmas - eeeeeeeek  - let's not do that.

Hard work and early mornings.

At  the beginning of the summer holiday my (grown) children registered with an agency which has been giving their father temporary, casual work from time to time.  It took a few weeks to process their  paperwork, and the children went on camp for the first week of August, but eventually all was in place and they were ready for the call to start work.
The call came within a couple of days and they started their working lives with a 10 hour shift at a Royal Mail sorting depot.  Whilst they were gone, we had a bit of a chuckle about how they would handle it, especially when we were getting texts saying "Oooh my feet - ouchies"  At the end of their shift, Daddy went to pick them up whilst I prepared a meal for them to come home to.  We expected them to crawl through the door exhausted, and possibly vowing never to go back.  How we underestimated the recuperative power of money.   That and a burst of adrenaline at the end of their shift.  They bounced through the door full of noise and chatter.  Ravenously hungry, they fell on the food I had waiting and devoured it in moments.  It seems however that sitting long enough to eat, perhaps coupled with the diversion of blood flow for digestive purposes, brought the adrenaline fuelled energy surge to the point of collapse and they visibly slumped.  As they had been asked to go back early the next morning they soon trailed off to bed.  Since that day they have only had one day off a week, something which never happened to their father as work was much more scarce when he was working there regularly.  They have managed very well even though they have at times got incredibly tired but the thought of the money they are earning  keeps them going and after they finished work last Friday, they got on a bus outside work and went into Leeds for a shopping trip.  A great deal of their hard earned cash blown in one go. 
For the first time last weekend they worked a shift with their father.  When the shift manager realised the relationship between the three of them, he was singing their praises in lofty tones to Dad, telling him how reliable and hardworking they are, explaining that he could tell them what to do and leave them to it, safe in the knowledge that he wouldn't have to check up on them because he could be confident it would be done and done well.  That made us so proud of them!
Until this morning, their shifts have started at 10am at the earliest, some have been 1pm starts and some have been 6pm until 10pm short shifts.  Yesterday however, the managers went round asking for volunteers to start early this morning, he wanted them in for 6am.  Darling daughter rang me to see if I could provide a taxi service, she said she had told him they couldn't start before 7, but in the end I agreed to get them there for 6.30am.  We have to leave 30 minutes before their shift starts to ensure that they get there on time, but this morning when I got up at 5.45 there was no sign of life from daughter's room, although son was obviously up and doing. I had to wake daughter, which is always a risky undertaking - she really is not a morning person - one is in danger of getting one's head bitten clean off.  Getting her up and moving was not easy and for the first time, they were not there on time but as she had told the manager it would be between 6.30 and 7am, hopefully it won't be a problem. If it is, then she will have to deal with it and learn from it.
As we drove to the city, the sun was just coming up, and being low in the sky, it spread everything it touched with a glow of melted butter.  Depressions in flat grassland gave off a mysterious looking, low lying mist which hovered around a foot above the ground, looking as though the earth was steaming through holes in its crust.  It was all so beautiful that it almost made it worthwhile being out at that time.

Quick Catch up

Way back in February I blogged that I was waiting for a knee replacement operation and that the scheduled date had been cancelled because someone failed to do their job properly and vital information was not passed on to the surgeon.  It took a lot of phone calls and emails but I finally got the operation done.  Many of those communications were because I didn't want to travel to a hospital in another county for that operation, but sadly it was my only option.  It was too far for my family to visit every day but by the grace of God we have friends living within driving distance of the hospital I was in and they visited when my family couldn't.  
Five days after the  procedure I was home and getting on with recovery.  I had a very special reason for wanting to be home so soon as two days later it was the anniversary of the day my husband and I were married - and not just any anniversary but our Silver Wedding Anniversary - wow, where did those 25 years go?  The timing of the surgery means that we have yet to celebrate it but we have plenty of time and can wait.  I got through the weeks of physiotherapy very well and it has been incredibly helpful, and my follow up appointments with the surgeon were very positive - I don't have to go back for another year now.

We were grateful for 25 years of marriage and delighted to hit that milestone, but it rather paled into insignificance the following day as my parents in law celebrated their Diamond wedding.  We just have another 35 years to go to match their achievement!  We were able to celebrate their anniversary at the weekend with a family dinner in a local hotel, when we managed to gather all the extended family together for the first time in some years.  It was not easy for me, but dosed up on morphine and moving carefully, I managed not only to enjoy it, but even to stay awake - morphine really knocks me out.  

Since then we have celebrated our daughter's 21st birthday, and in a few months will be doing the same for our son's 18th.  In between we have special birthdays for members of our extended family - a 40th, 30th already down and a 60th coming up.  As you can see - a very busy year for us.

I think that has brought Knight Times up to date with the notable news.  We have lots more going on but that will save for another time.

Happy Birthday

Looking out of the window today at the persistent, torrential rain I can hardly believe that it is July 6th.  21 years ago today it was a Saturday,one of the hottest days of the year - back then summer knew how to be summer - the heat was oppressive, it was Ladies Finals Day at Wimbledon, and I was getting increasingly frustrated that my husband who was listening to the match on the radio via an earpiece, thought I was even remotely interested in the scores he was reporting to me as the match progressed. He obviously didn't know that a woman in labour has only one thing on her mind, and the only ball she can think of is the bowling ball she is trying to squeeze out of her body which demands all her attention and energy. He soon learned!! Funnily enough, since that time I have never been really interested in Wimbledon fortnight.
The result of that long, hot day was a beautiful baby girl who has become more beautiful as she has grown into the lovely young lady she is today. Congratulations on your 21st  my darling daughter and a very happy birthday to you. 

Olympic Torch Relay

Goodness me - look how long it has been since I last posted on here.  So much has happened I'm not sure where to begin.  I think I will start with today's news and then go back and do a 'catch up' on another occasion.


The Summer Olympics start in London sometime in the next month or so.  The fact that I am unsure of the start date gives you an indication of the level of interest the Olympics hold for me.  Today however, the Olympic torch relay came through our town.  I wasn't going to watch it but I became interested when my son's PE teacher rang me to say that my son was going to be given the opportunity to run alongside the torch bearer because he has been volunteering to help out with PE at a school for children with disabilities.  The relay route goes right past the front door of my parents in law's house so it was the obvious place to go to watch.  We took chairs out onto the pavement just outside the front gate and settled down to wait alongside crowds of people who were happy to wait for an hour or two to see the torch pass by.  We understood that the police were going to effect a rolling road block to keep the whole route clear and safe.  Sadly it turned out that the road block was only in one direction.    The footpath only runs down one side of the road in our location and that was the side of the road where traffic was to be allowed.  We were no more than 400 feet from the end of the relay route but rather than stop the traffic at that point, the police allowed it to continue until it got stuck and had no choice but to stop.  That meant that it queued back and completely blocked the view of those waiting on the footpath!  We were able to cross the road and wait in the entrance to a house opposite but not so the children from a nearby primary school who were unable to see anything over the top of the queuing traffic.  How sad is that?  Own goal West Yorkshire and Metropolitan Police forces!

Waiting for a surgeon

Partly as a consequence of the amalgamation of several previous back and leg injuries  I now have serious problems with my knees, one of which requires replacement.  I have been through various processes in order to attempt to stave off the requirement for surgery but unfortunately to no avail, even though I had high hopes of one of the treatments.  By now I should have had the operation and be well on the way to recovery.

On October 24 I was added to the waiting list and was told that it would be around 18 weeks.  At the pre-operative assessment clinic I informed the nurse that I am very allergic to a chemical used in the joint cement used in joint replacement surgery, explained what happens to me if I come into contact with it (not pretty) and stressed the importance of this information in relation to the surgical intervention.

In due time I received a hospital admission date for the procedure and began to make all the arrangements necessary for the continued smooth running of family life whilst I was in hospital and in the recovery period.   Then on January 25 I got a phone call cancelling the operation because they had "just noticed" that I am allergic to the substance.  All of this despite the fact that I had told them that I am allergic to it 3 months earlier and they had had plenty of time to find either an alternative substance or an alternative surgeon who is confident to perform an uncemented procedure.   I am not a happy bunny and have made my feelings very clear to the hospital at the highest levels.  They are now trying to arrange for another surgeon to undertake the procedure.  Watch this space.

In the meantime if you have ever come into contact with a substance called Ethyl Methacrylate (also known as EMA) or Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) and had an unwanted reaction do keep it in mind if you ever need a joint replacement.  If you don't know what that is don't worry - you are not alone.  If however, you have ever had acrylic nails and had a bad skin reaction then you may well be allergic to EMA  or MMA and that is closely connected to the substance used in cemented joint replacements - the substance is actually MMA.  Not many people are aware that there is this connection and therefore would not necessarily think to mention such a reaction prior to surgery  but it is really important to do so and at an early stage.

Life

All seems to be functioning normally in the world of my student daughter.  She is stressed and overtired, wigging out at little things, even when things are going well.  As I said all is functioning normally in her world.  Unless things change we are expecting her home for 24 hours on Saturday, when at least I can give her a good hug.


Life here is a kaleidoscope of highs and lows, stresses and sweet moments.  The work for Royal Mail which I mentioned in this previous post started well but quickly dried up to at most two shifts a week.   Last night for the first time in his life he worked a night shift as it was the only available shift this week.  The poor man is like a zombie today despite having slept.  We had agreed that he shouldn't sleep all day as to do so would compromise his ability to sleep well tonight.  Somehow I don't think that he will be having a late night.  
Tomorrow however, everything changes.  No more Royal Mail for a while, he is heading to Newcastle to start a very temporary contract for a few days - and it is only days at this stage.  He will be home in just over a week but it is better than two shifts a week and at a much better rate of pay.  The call about this contract came as a swift answer to prayer after we had spent time praying for some encouragement.  God is so gracious to us.


On Monday I had an appointment at the hospital for a surgical pre-assessment in preparation for a total knee replacement.  The length of the waiting list indicates that I should be admitted sometime in January but a lot of people cancel their admissions in the run up to Christmas so we are hoping to ensure that we get ahead of ourselves and get all the Christmas preparations well under way so that if I am asked to take a cancellation I can.

She's leaving home

 26 hours ago I squeezed my daughter into the car alongside as many of her possessions as she could shoehorn into the space available.  We then headed West to Lancaster where she was about to move into her first house, even if it is only a student let, it is still her first house.  She was the first of the three girls sharing, to move in.  As student houses go it isn't bad, it is quite spacious, maybe a little cold at first but she soon got the heating blasting out until it was too hot to bear - we then found that someone had left the thermostat on at 30 degrees.  What it was however is filthy, we soon got that sorted with a twenty four hour blitz of cleaning, I have never before had to sweep dust off the walls of a house with a broom, not only the walls but also the ceiling.  I had to scrape years of accumulated grease and grime from the tops of the kitchen wall cabinets, clean out the insides of drawers and cupboards and clean out the fridge.  Surprisingly the one area which didn't need cleaning was the oven.  By the time the other girls turned up today the place had been thoroughly fettled as the old Yorkshire expression has it.  Swept, dusted, vacuumed, kitchen and bathroom cleaned, windows cleaned, nasty, dirty curtains taken down and replaced by fresh clean ones. Some of the grime was a bit too ingrained for the normal domestic equipment we had to hand but on the whole it was a totally different house from the one we entered at 6.30 yesterday evening.
When Elizabeth moved out of her university flat last year we scrubbed it out and left it spotless - that doesn't seem to have happened for a few years in this house - what was there was not just the detritus of one year.
Not surprisingly Elizabeth and I were both pretty shattered by the end of it all but I know she will keep going on adrenaline until she drops into bed this evening - whenever that might be!  I on the other hand had a long drive home alone and am now typing this in an effort to stay awake.


She is now happily living in her new house with two friends and enjoying what I am sure will become a hectic social life in the couple of weeks before lectures begin again, we on the other hand will have to live with a quiet hole which is usually filled with a noisy, boisterous young woman who alternately delights us and drives us mad.   Still it will be Christmas before we know it!


(Hands up those who got the Beatles reference in the title!)

Grr

I am cross, I am more than cross - I am enraged and what's more I am outraged.


My husband and I got our full driving licences in the same year.  We have the same driving history and the same no claims discount.  Everything about us and driving is the same.  I am 2 years older than he is but we are at an age where that doesn't really make a difference, but when we obtained quotes today in both our names for the same car his was significantly lower than mine.  That makes me cross, what makes me really angry is that the insurance company won't tell me why that is the case.


The only real difference between us is that I am female and he is male.  The fact that they cannot/will not tell me why my premiums are higher than his leads me to the conclusion that there is sexism at work here and that takes me to the top of the anger scale.  


Anger is not of itself a bad thing, it is only when the anger takes control of a person that it is bad and I am not about to let that happen but just occasionally there is a crumb of transient comfort in letting the imagination run free.  (Be assured though that that last statement does not have anything to do with violence)