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