Autumn Antics

It is nice to finally find myself with enough space of time to write my blog. It has been in my head for weeks but with so much going on the opportunity to be appropriately relaxed with enough time has not been available till now. Started Boxing Day, with Christmas firmly behind me and a length of time ahead of me before I leap into 'action-mum' mode and back to work. So here goes for an interesting light-hearted review of our autumn months of activity.
Hope you enjoy!

September was an interesting month as I came to the end of my contract in Sussex which was a bit of a surprise as the contract was cut short due to finances with a mass exodus of staff. It was a shame to leave as we were not quite finished but also quite happy to find the next challenge which rapidly came at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough. My journey is to the end of the M11 and now go right on to M25, instead of left. I can now boast the accolade to be experienced in circumnavigating almost the whole of the M25!!

My work friend, Angie, and I had a bucket list of 'what to do in Brighton before we departed' which consisted of

• visiting a gay bar - which became easy as this was Angie's regular hotel
• go to the Drag Night
• go up the new Brighton Tower Pier called I360, managed by British Airways.

The funniest bit about having a drink in the gay bar was when I phoned Milo, when he knew where I was he was taken aback and I could hear his jaw drop, gaining a new level of credibility! Unfortunately we never got to the Monday night Drag Night Show but did have a fabulous evening on the I360, it was awesome like being on a spaceship particularly when lubricated with a G&T. 

View from the top of the Tower Pier looking right

                                                            
  

               

Our time at Sussex ended with a champagne fueled night out when my brain felt like it was swimming in bubbles. 

We shared our project successes via a published article, if you are interested please follow the link or cut and paste into your browser.
https://fabnhsstuff.net/2016/12/02/sussex-community-foundation-trust-improved-patient-flow/

  
In September is always the Maritime Festival at Gt. Yarmouth docks and something I have wanted to go to for years. This year we did and thoroughly enjoyed the array of shipping vessels and shanty activities to wander around the street beside the dock was bustling, really enjoyable for the whole family. I had pre-booked a couple of tours around ships one for our Pirate Captain Dylan to 'aarrrrgh' on an authentic pirate ship (Earl of Pembroke) and the other was on a brand new ship to service Statoil Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm called Esvagt Njord SOV. It was a very interesting experience but the overwhelming impact was the sheer enormity of the vessel, one of my most amusing pictures of the year gives a view of the scale I am trying to describe.

The picture is taken from the old sailing ship which is why you can see an anchor with a view of the back end of the Esvagt with a little Police boat moored under the big ships holding ropes. The Police took the scale in good humour.

Can you see Jerry and Dylan at the front of the ship?

September was also the month Mum and Dad (Sandra and Kevin) took their trip to Australia so we decided to have a 'Enjoy your Oz Trip' party. It was a 'jolly gathering' where all camp site family came together with Oz food, Oz drinking and an Oz quiz which succeeded in worrying mum at the potential number of deadly creepy insects!! Without doubt the best turned out was Jackie and Paul as 'Gday Kangaroos'.

Post their trip mum was able to share very few creepy crawlies let alone deadly were ever actually seen. The stories and pictures shared describe an incredible trip of meeting family, experiencing the usual but very Oz wildlife and climaxing with dad's fabulous birthday treat of an evening watching a performance in Sydney Opera House.

We took ourselves off to Sherwood Centre Parcs for a holiday weekend and enjoyed the water games, which probably should have been about lazing around but was completely the reverse, being thrown around the turbulent rushing of water colliding with bodies but my goodness a whole lot of fun. Armed with bird seed and peanuts we were regularly woken to the knock on the patio door by the swans and geese to feed them! Before leaving Sherwood we indulged in Robin Hood taking Dylan to the Old Oak, over a thousand years old!

Next stop on our trip being Leicester to the Space Centre. An experience when space becomes palpable, a real hands on as we gazed and played amongst rockets, ships and satellites which have been in space. The centre has been supported by Colin Pillinge (Beagle 2 scientist) and visited regularly by Tim Peake and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. It is a hidden gem with historical and modern space dialogue, very interactive for older and young and at least a day's visit.

We took our own astronaut home with us - sipping his coke at the dinner table!

Then at the end of the week we had to acknowledge Halloween with a sweetie hunt and a meal of green witches broth (broccoli and stilton soup) filled with frogs leg (chipolatas), intestines (red dried spaghetti) and eyeballs (meat balls filled with cheese) washed down with ghouls blood (red shloer), and we were all dressed up!!

Sorry for the lateness of autumn's activities I'm hoping December's festivities posting won't be too far away as a lot of lovely stuff to share.

Pleased to receive a comment as a response on the blog or via my email. 

ENJOY XX

Reflection of our Summer Holidays 2016

July has certainly been Milo’s month as he passed his driving test and then passed the interview and entry tests for a job in Sainsbury’s in Attleborough. He is in the fresh products team swapping his tweed coat for a Sainsbury’s maroon thermal jacket and gloves in the middle of summer. By the end of the holidays he had earnt enough money for a new ‘techy’ style phone (far too expensive!!) and a new look of trendy clothes – shirts, bespoke shoes and ties being textured and bow styles. A picture of Milo ‘Man about town’ in his little car.

July has also been the month when our nephew Jake married the lovely Nicola. There was at least three best-men and I believe three bridesmaids, flower girl being India and Nicolas nephew as a page boy. They married in Banham church by the local vicar who was fabulous. He covered all prominent subjects of a young couple’s life being drink, sex and how married life works with risks of temptation, boredom and then how to look after each other, all wrapped up with the web address of the church at the end. A really great wedding sermon! The reception was back at Vanessa and Stevens in the garden, a marquee for afternoon tea and evening BBQ and a lot more friends came along. Picture of the lovely couple, then one of my favourite pictures of all the cousins and silly boys – Dylan and Finley. 

The first week of the school summer holidays and we took mum and dad on a narrow boat holiday with Jerry, I and Pirate Captain Dylan. We were on the Grand Union Canal from Leighton Buzzard travelled up the canal through at least 25 locks, the oldest iron aqueduct and then the longest navigating tunnel called Blisworth Tunnel. We then turned around on a ‘turning hole’ and came back covering a grand total of 20 miles.

Our Pirate Captain enjoyed the experience of walking the plank, sending out orders as he sailed the waters of the canal and his crew enjoyed the pleasures of the local pubs along the canal banks.

It really was a very different experience, incredibly slow, so slow people who walked were faster than us in our narrow boat, one not to have missed and to be repeated. I hope you enjoy the video I asked Milo to put together for me to give a feel of our holiday.

A couple of weeks later in August we took Jerry on his birthday trip to Edinburgh to soak up the atmosphere of The Fringe and attend the Edinburgh Royal Tattoo. The added surprise being we were meeting up with Eric and Sue in Edinburgh but Jerry didn’t know, they were supposed to be holidaying in Cornwall – well that’s what Jerry thought everybody else knew otherwise. Eric and Sue met us at the airport, they had driven up a few days earlier, and poor Jerry was floored in those few moments he couldn’t comprehend what was going on. It was funny and a relief, lying since May was hard going.

We started our trip with an open top bus tour of the city, taking in the many Fringe activities and shows on the streets as always it was a really interesting and easy way to capture the essence of the city. In the evening we went to the Military Tattoo and ‘WOO’ what a show, it was truly magnificent modern and mesmerizing, both Milo and Dylan (for as long as he could keep his eyes open) on the edge of their seats enjoying the show. The picture display on the side of Edinburgh Castle was as remarkable as the musical parades with a celebration to Bowie.

We spent the next day enjoying the cottage, in the middle of nowhere, being the hot tub with a few sips of wine! Going home we went via crossing the ‘Forth of Firth’ bridge to a small beach and paddled in really clear water. My funniest picture being the one below of Milo laying on the beach in August in his black jeans, tweed coat and scarf. He actually admitted to being too hot in the car travelling back to the airport asking for the air conditioning to be put on – a very rare moment! A great opportunist break.

Drinks in the Fringe

Edinburgh Military Tattoo Finale

Fabulous view

Enjoying the beach 

I had the last week of the school holidays off too and again took Dylan to London for the day with my lovely friend Val, we had a fabulous day together. Our aim being dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum and the London Eye. Dylan was really excited at the thought of the forthcoming experience starting with the train and underground trips, then when we discussed the plan with him and he heard the word ‘Kensington’ he informed us Peter Pan came from Kensington Gardens which then meant a detour to see the Peter Pan statue. Dylan’s pirate life is based on the antics of Captain Hook fighting Peter Pan, being very real in his life and to anyone around Dylan, so the statue became a must.

The dinosaurs were great fun, he enjoyed the roaring moving robotics dinosaurs best, insisting on being brought a dinosaur egg which has since been given birth too. We next hot-footed to find and admire the beautiful bronze statue of Peter Pan, Dylan was in-orr of the experience his face was a picture. On the London Eye Dylan was initially apprehensive as he sat in the middle of the pod bench, legs crossed tucked under him, holding on in case he fell out! It wasn’t long before he became brave and ventured around the pod recognising the landmark views, he particularly enjoys and recognises Big Ben. A really good fun day.

Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum

 

Sitting next to his hero 'Peter Pan'

Enjoying the London Eye above Big Ben

Then the school holidays end and the boys are back to school, Milo in year 13 (last year of Sixth Form) and Dylan in year 2 and to the next class at Rocklands school. I returned to Sussex for the last week finishing on Friday, having partied hard with flowing champagne on the Thursday night with work colleagues in Brighton, and started at Wexham Park Hospital near Slough on the Monday – another posting for another day.

Hope you read to the end and have enjoyed my news

Astronaut Dylan

A moment not to be missed in light of Tim Peake’s return from space. We had our own astronaut land in the ‘centre of the universe’ – our field he was Astronaut Dylan.

Hope you enjoy my video the music is Space Odyssey sang by Chris Hadfield (Canadian Astronaut)

It’s been a while since I have done a posting, not without the odd nudge to get one done, but kept running out of time.

So to update on where we are in living our life – yes still in the caravan with more like minded permanent people too. A further six hard stands put down and availability of grass pitches if pushed. Best of all we have the loveliest of neighbours, finally moved in permanently on the birth of their hard stand our long term caravanning buddies, Sue and Eric. At the moment with all the rain the growth of the lake has been resurrected, so in between the down pours of rain and at times torrential, it has been evenings of merriment - barbies and fire pits with toasted marshmallows and when too wet we are in the village hall (Sue’s awning with her 3 piece suite) or party in the Games room. The games room is a great place, huge, we usually start with a competition of Corn Hole then darts, snooker and pool then Jackie produces a silly game, see pics of Jerry and Dylan taking their turn. Jackie (and Paul) now have a life nomadicing between Wicklewood and Portugal, they have wintered in Portugal now summering at the centre of the universe. Fabulous people just don’t touch her cocktails – voice of experience!

I am still working in Sussex, travelling down Monday and back Friday with my contract extended until October now. So going very well and enjoying the experience. I’ve had some fun with my colleague Angie in Brighton. We occasionally go out for tea and wander along the sea front and pier, one of our highlights has been to go to a UB40 concert on a Tuesday evening. We were in the standing area very close to the stage. It was great to see a band from our time who sounded everything as expected but OMG they were men of their age, heavier with a whole lot less hair but bopping like they were in their twenties. Really great fun.

We have been out and about over the last few weeks.

On Dylan’s 6^th birthday in April we had a pirate party with lots of games and picnic food and skull birthday cake. We then went to Alton Towers for the remainder of the week primarily to visit Ceebeeies Land as a keen favourite of Dylan’s and it was good fun. We progressed too many other areas and rides. To my horror Dylan loved the ‘Run Away Train’ roller-coaster. I went around the ride with my eyes firmly sealed shut and Dylan finished saying how he loved it and when can he go on again! The ride we all enjoyed and I couldn’t get neither Jerry nor Dylan out, was ‘Justin’s Pie-o-matics’ being a room filled with air pneumatic firing soft foam balls. The second level was a platform of twenty plus guns and cannons firing guns, just to remind, yes this is a child’s game but the reality was all the guns and cannons were operated by the adults and the children collecting balls for their parents. It was hilarious and great fun.

I have a video of the whole birthday period but not finished yet – on the ‘to do’ list.

Jerry's birthday in May we enjoyed treating ourselves to lunch in a quaint Thai restaurant in Norwich then walked around the grounds of Norwich castle on a bright sun shining day all before collecting children from school. It felt a bit naughty on a Monday, a nice day finished with birthday cake. Jerry was presented with a surprise present yet to be enjoyed, we are flying to Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Tattoo which hopefully will include some experience of the Edinburgh Fringe, in August.  We had a lovely day out the week before treating Nanny Pat to a wander and lunch around Sandringham as we took in the display of bluebells. The Air Ambulance came over so gave a wave to Wills as he came home for lunch!

Poor Milo has had a challenging time with driving but enjoying his successes in his growing music channel on you-tube of visuals to chill out music. Recently an English/Media teacher has his work informally and is interested in his skill set, so we will see where this takes him. If you are interested the link to his site is below:

                https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKrasU1qR9l0DJ1tQ98uGLA

Unfortunately his computer shop job fell through due to the owner having to pause business which is a shame, but he has picked up jobs for other people in repairing/cleaning up laptops and repairing mobile phones. Cadets is going well , he enjoys being a sergeant and has been approached by the Commanding Officer if he will consider staying on beyond 18 years as a leader and to be taken to the next level of promotion. 

He is wanting a job for the holidays so anybody got any possibilities let us know.

This week Dylan has been poorly with vomiting bug so been off school at the beginning of the week, so this end of the week he wanted something different and we got the little tent out. He played in it during the day outside, the rain started again so it came in and now Dylan is sleeping in it tonight in the awning. See what night we have now!

Celebrating our Mothers.

Mothering Sunday has been many years of cooking a nice meal for our mums and dads and spending the afternoon together, as our circumstances changed we ventured into going out for to eg afternoon tea so this year I thought time for a change particularly as time at home is a bit different. Our Dylan is the youngest grandchild for both Mums so I thought they may enjoy a bit of afternoon fun at Dylan’s level and took them to High Lodge in Thetford Forest.

The invite was given, received with a reserved response of a resounding ‘O Yes that will be fun!’ with not really much idea of what they were letting themselves in for, compounded on the day with rain all night and into Saturday morning. The looks of trepidation being this really feels like a treat (!) going into the woods on a cold wet Saturday afternoon, layers and wellies were the order of the day.

It has been many years since either grandparent has been to High Lodge only hearing the prattling-on of what adventures are had. A nannies and grand-dad adventure started with ‘a nice cup of tea and scone’ in the café before our leader (Dylan) took charge as we headed for the Music Trail diverting on to a first ride, a swirling swing which turned out to be pretty active for Jerry.

It was a great fun afternoon containing a lot of laughing. Watch my film below to witness the adventures at High Lodge through the Music Trail and in the playground both in cheering on and lots of participation by all. The afternoon ended with coffee and yummy homemade cake and a weary set of grandparents. Success. The challenge now is finding something different for next year’s Mothering Celebrations!! 

Part 1 for Feb: 'Sweet and Bitter'

I have run out of time to do all I wanted to share for February so decided to have to two halves to my approach, the second halve to come will include one of my videos of our 29^th Wedding Anniversary celebrations, we had a great day out altogether!!!

So I start my blog with a ‘Sweet’ moment being really simple. It is such a relief to see Milo out of his old tatty Parker with rips, discoloured and stank into a smart, formal, tweed coat purchased from a gentleman’s tailors.

This may sound like a mother making a big deal but the process of getting him to look at another coat has been a long drawn out affair of cajoling, bribery, threats and out right nagging of how awful he looked to “what is that smell? – OMG Milo it’s you in that Parker!”

So in the holidays, after we had all been to watch the new ‘Dads Army’ film together before enjoying a lunchtime Thai meal (at the bottom of Timber Hill in Norwich and absolutely scummy). I announced we had enough time to look for a young man’s coat. Greeted by a significant groan and mutter we set off to the tailors as suggested by Jerry.

Stepped into the shop, I was looking at jackets in the middle of the shop, but Milo had been introduced to a new world of what was available to him as he looked around the room on the top rail where tweed coats were displayed. He instantly fell in love with the formal look enhanced by a scarf.  The added bonus was these £200 coats had been reduced to £50, so the question of ‘Mum can I have a scarf too?’ with a reply of ‘Absolutely!’

The old Parker, which was always on his back and he would never part with, was instantly discarded at the till in the bag and the new coat on Milo’s back from that point on. So a lovely picture of Milo above in his new tweed coat and scarf and new Paton shoes instead of scrappy boats with holes in the soles. He is a working boy in the local computer shop in his ‘heaven’, at least every Saturday building and assisting in the repair of computers.

The next event in our lives in February was a ‘Sweet’ moment which sadly turned ‘Bitter’. Anybody who knows anything about Jerry knows he really enjoys going through the process of getting a new vehicle. At one point in our lives together we calculated he brought a car every nine months. Fortunately he has moved beyond this point but still enjoys getting something different and on his bucket list of vehicle ‘wants’ is a Rolls Royce. The long and short of it he ended up purchasing a Bentley Arnage with a Rolls Royce engine, a W-reg car but changed to reflect its new owner and a really really excited Jerry about the prospect. A rare moment in life!!!

It is a really luxurious ride with for-nominal power, very comfortable and a pleasure to be in, but sadly with too many things wrong with the car it has had to be returned, hence the ‘Bitter’ moment and a sad Jerry – not easy to live with. He can say though he has in his lifetime been the owner of a Rolls Royce vehicle.

I must just finish with letting you know about my hot date this past week, the only one I have had. The lady I stay with in Sussex, Thelma, invited me to the Horticultural Club to an evening of entertainment with an interactive presentation on owls. As I had been asked I was very happy to go and it was a really great evening and a delight to be part of. A group of owls is called a ‘Parliament’ so the owner named all his owls as politicians so we were introduced to Mo Mowlan, Boris, Nigel Farage, Maggie and Winston and more. The owls were flying around the room and people were given the opportunity to hold the owls, Thelma cuddled up to Nigel for a good half hour. Hope you like the pics and Part 2 for Feb to follow soonish!!!.

Christmas Treat

Thinking of Christmas is a lovely moment to day dream in as we had such a fabulous break, enjoying a week in a luxury lodge at Darsham in Suffolk, with Christmas in the middle. We went along with Eric and Sue, our caravanning buddies who were next door. There is no doubt this holiday was one of the most easy going relaxing Christmases I have had in years, probably pre-children when Christmas holidays were laying in the sun sipping champagne. 

The daily extravagance was to enjoy our own private hot tub, and yes I can say I was in the hot tub on Christmas day, lying in warm water and watching the night time sky felt like sheer luxury.

We took all our Christmas with us, brand new slim line tree, Santa’s presents plus all our foods for the week and all the usual stuff when going away. So when Sue and Eric arrived to us their big 4x4 was crammed full to the roof with their Christmas and ours.

We did all our usual Christmas traditions, Dylan made mince-pies to share, wrote to Santa and decorated his letter ready with carrots and a glass of port on a tray, a special magic key for Santa to get in and glittering reindeer food to give Rudolph an extra lift. Dylan was very good waking ‘in the 7’s am’ as instructed and then enjoyed with excitement the thought Santa and his sleigh had stopped outside the lodge, as he studied the reindeer hoof markings on the road. As you would expect we had lots of fun opening boy presents to the new Elvis CD followed by a scrumptious dinner meandering into the rest of the day, ending in the hot tub.

The relaxation of the hot tub somewhat diminishes with a 5 year old bouncing, playing Jolly Roger pirate ships shouting out his Pirate Captain instructions!

The park was very busy with lots of people coming to shoot. Milo had a go with Eric’s guns and apparently got a higher score than his Dad – such fun!

We enjoyed some fresh sea air at Southwold walking along the pier then the sand-dunes and promenade watching a lady swimmer walk across the sand in her costume then swim between the groins as we were wrapped in coats – bonkers!

The end came and we spent a quiet New Year at home watching London fireworks along with everybody else limping to midnight of 2015, wondering when the next hot tub opportunity might come next! 

Hope you enjoy my own video, only a couple of minutes. of our holiday and wishing you a Happy New Year for 2016

I have enclosed a second bit of filming of our Christmas day, starting with Dylan getting excited at the evidence Santa with his reindeer had been, followed by boys opening presents, hope you enjoy.

  

First Experiences - Dylan with his Kindle.

A posting to enable you to enjoy being part of a little boys first experiences in taking pictures and filming - himself!!

Dylan received from Father Christmas a Kindle Fire, so a little tablet to play games, do his computer homework, listen to stories with the facility to take pictures and video.

Myself and Milo were trying to sort out some bits for him and found the following which made us roll around laughing.

Dylan's first 'selfies'

Then we found the videoing of 

• the kindle flap
• the television programme he was watching
• the door he was about to go through
• and then the videoing of himself - see below!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

and hope you enjoy a little bit of a small boys' experimenting.

XXXX