Celebrations September & October 2018

We have been in a position to celebrate over the past few weeks.

Our starting point has been Jerry coming to the end of his 6 weeks of radiotherapy treatment in August. Fortunately my contract in Surrey ended sooner than expected being perfect to keep my family afloat as Jerry faced the daily ordeal of travel/parking & treatment at Norwich Hospital. The impact and after effects of radiotherapy treatment has been quite exhausting for the shear trauma the body goes through with the build-up of treatment effect. The impact of the hormone therapy he is on and continues to be on, with the radiotherapy had its challenging moments to have to deal with, so this really became a 10 week period of feeling washed out and weary, when Jerry was ready to flop with easy access to bathroom facilities and a comfy bed to flop into.

Before this period of treatment had started Milo had suggested we should do a holiday together at the end of treatment – Brilliant! So before Dylan went back to school we took ourselves off to Elveden Centre Parcs, for a relaxing time, with a long weekend family fun together.

What did we learn from our time together?

Dylan really enjoyed paddling in a canoe and learnt quickly what to do, he also got the only ‘hole in one’ in Crazy Golf. Milo was the first to feed the squirrels by hand. This trip was the first time we saw deer on our patio on a number of occasions and they were frisky!

It was a special weekend, hope you enjoy my video sharing our time.

September rolled on with returning to school, college and I got stuck into my next contract in Kettering. Kettering is travelling west on the A14, which is not a great road compounded at this time by the road improvement works BUT compared to the M25 less intense and aggressive. Still a ‘plod’ of a journey. My stay in Kettering is an easy place to be as my accommodation is in the hospital grounds and I get myself out and about quite easily. The recent school holidays Jerry and Dylan came to stay to a local B&B pub. Gave Dylan the opportunity to checked out my accommodation, he loved it and cherished the thinking in knowing where I am – Jerry was quite happy having our lovely comfy bed to himself all week not so impressed in my single sized hard mattress affair!

We were thrilled to be able to catch up with Aaron, my cousin’s son, as part of his travels from Australia across the Asian continent through Europe ending his travels in Dublin via Norfolk! An awe-inspiring young man with many stories of adventure as he traveled on his motor-bike. Interested in watching any of his hair-raising video clips link is here: 

www.facebook.com/worldwidewheelieworldwide/?ref=br_rs

 

Aaron with Sandra & Kevin, & me in Hingham White Hart.

I took myself off for a treat with a girlfriend to see Kylie Minogue on her ‘Golden’ tour, we watched Kylie at the 02 staying in the hotel next door! An utterly tremendous show with considerable energy and vibrancy, a sublime experience, ticked off my ‘bucket list’. Hope you enjoy my taster video clip.

October is a month of birthdays including my own. Spent the day with my boys showered with lovely gifts washed down with ‘bubbles’ and then off to lunch at ‘The Gull’ (Framlingham Piggot), returned home to share my birthday cake and candles with young and older in the family – beautiful day. One of the other birthdays we shared in celebrating was my friend Libby who hit her 50^th in the only style she knows how - discoing to ‘Boney M’. I have not seen anyone command the dance floor as Libby did, in true ‘Saturday Night Fever’ style but to Boney M. I will never be able to hear ‘Daddy Cool’ without seeing Libby magnificently swank the floor with her dancing moves. Enjoy the video of the last dance.

 We indulge in Halloween but internally. This year we took a trip to Pumpkin Patch and enjoyed the array of pumpkins for as far as the eye could see, quite a glorious sight and picked our own pumpkin for carving. Spooked the house up with decorations followed by a ghoulish meal (sausages and mash) and a treats hunt thrown in. Dylan hunted Sunday morning filling with his riches for breakfast. The most amusing part of our Halloween occasion is when Milo is contrived to have his own treats hunt laid out by his younger brother. Watching Milo respond to the power of his younger brothers control of ‘hot & cold’ was hilarious, as Dylan hadn’t quite grasped the concept leaving Milo floundering. Dylan continued to find Milo’s treats up to a week later and consuming what he found.

 Pumpkin Patch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Behemoth Post of Spring/Summer 2018

This is a ‘behemoth’ of a post which I do apologize for. At the time my artistic brain had no space to mull over the pleasantries of our lives as I concentrated on supporting my family, then the months kept adding on. This post is in essence all about life we have traveled through and after my ‘gearing up’ for the London Marathon. At the time it didn’t feel much like we were doing anything other than London Marathon preparation – but we did!! The story I share is an expansion across spring and summer as speed of time overtook me and I kept all the balls of family life afloat allowing Jerry to concentrate fully on his treatments and recovery.

Our spring starts with Dylan’s birthday. This year we celebrated Dylan’s eighth birthday with a small group of friends at ‘Battle stations’ a game zone of shooting of varying levels, our boys thoroughly enjoyed playing Nerf guns. They ran themselves ragged in two teams shooting foam bullets in the dim light, the person most squealey was Milo and they all enjoyed ganging up on him. Followed by the obligatory homemade smarties birthday cake with nannies, grandad and some aunties this year too. Enjoy my video, it is 20 mins but does share the whole present opening experience in Dylan’s own words with nerf battle party!

Close behind Dylan’s birthday is always Easter as we gathered at Stone Barn for an egg hunt. A few less family this year but still a lot of fun watching the children enjoy their hunt. Three eggs could not be located then the realisation dawned perhaps they had not actually been hidden by our host! In the evening we relished an ‘Illusionist Show’ at the theatre, something a bit different, stupendous breath-taking acts to the stunningly simple tricks. A lot of fun together 

It’s been a riveting time on our new housing estate as more people are moving in and the building site state is coming to an end. The builders are local to Norfolk –‘Abels’ – and have a policy to commission local art work to front the new estates. The history being the fields the new houses are now on used to grow hops for the local brewery and the Abel family have significant family ties to the village. So they held a celebratory evening with a great meet and greet when the art was unveiled by Tony Abel (MD), the artist (Teucer Wilson) and local MP George Freeman. It was a surprisingly entertaining evening with an impressive speech from the MP who seemed to really understand the Norfolk mind-set and issues of Norfolk. Dylan was enthralled to have an MP so close to us plucking up the courage to speak to him and getting a picture, it was novel to watch.

Artist & MP beside the giant hop!

Milo seems to have found his passion for driving as he takes himself and his lovey lady off for day trips on a fairly impromptu whimsical approach, going from

·         Norfolk to Derbyshire for a picnic and

·         Norfolk to Kent for lunch, these trips being up to a 400 mile round trip.

Then in July Milo’s escapade to New York took place with Rebecca, for a week. I took them to Heathrow which was a brilliant run, there and back before lunch! We were really lucky as Milo shared his encounters of the busy, energetic and colourful experiences, whist highly emotional then counterbalanced by some really peaceful and naturistic places, throughout the week.  A gem of an escapade at the beginning of his adult life, a really great lesson learnt in what you can achieve by working hard to save for his goal. The next goal is being saved for already, that being a ‘Tesla’ an American electric car with business to import right hand drive in to the UK in 2019, his name is on the waiting list and deposit paid – watch this space!

Jerry and I have done a couple of grown up treats too, translated into outings minus child! Firstly watching my dear friend Donna expressing her passion in her new band ‘Blonde Moment’, as the lead singer. It was a truly blithesome affair, without question great music, lots of humour as the dialogue between the band members was fluid, appreciating the glamour fronting their show. I’m now looking to be a groupie when possible!

The second outing was an opportunity to tick off my bucket list – meeting Phil Taylor - World Champion of Darts 16 times at Potters in Lowestoft in an exhibition show. For those who do not know, Potters holds the World Bowls Championship and it’s televised on the BBC.

The stay was just a Sunday night event with an all-inclusive approach, when we arrived for lunch with an intention of an instant wind-down thereby observing all around us. My first impression was ‘OMG we have stepped into the next age bracket above us’, as too many older people in mobility scooters were around us, then the filtering of age groups gradually progressed to nearer our age bracket!

The evening was a well agenda occasion, flowing skilfully into a spectacular evening of supreme darts with good humour and pleasure. Phil Taylor committed to stay for as long as required in order to meet all those photo requests. We hung around so was close to the end of the queue at 2am to have a photo and chat with Phil. Sunday afternoon to early Monday morning was a weekend of partying in that short space of time, so by the time I spoke to the man my conversation was sadly embarrassing, as follows,

 “I love you Phil Taylor. I think you are fantastic and put you on the pedestal with Mo Farrar!!”

I’m just thankful I’m unlikely to meet Phil again – embarrassing moment, great occasion.

Dylan had his sports day and was thrilled with his results in his chosen races being sack race then egg & spoon race, cheered on by grandparents and uncle/aunt, fortunately we enjoyed their shared pictures of Dylan’s eminence!

We commissioned ourselves a piece of modern art and very pleased with the finished product, an oil painting of our family, looks prodigious hanging in our new home. The young artist, Breeze Lister, is a primary school colleague of Milo’s now studying art specializing in portraits at university.

The first Gt Yarmouth Airshow was surprisingly thrilling as the majestic display was conducted over the ocean. It was a very well organised event making it a pleasure to be part of. The Red Arrows were undoubtedly the supreme highlight, awesome to behold!

 The unbelievably saddest moment in the early summer has been the sudden death of Jerry’s cousin and our longstanding caravanning buddy, Sue. It was an awful shock as her very poorly state was very sudden and then very quick to deteriorate in less than a week. Sue’s family did her proud with a lovely funeral attended by lots of family and friends, interestingly Jerry and I were able to straddle the different groups of people as we have been part of Sue’s life for such a long time. The memories Jerry and Sue had always started with the photo taken of them both in the bath together as very young children! As two couples we had a lot of years sharing our caravanning weekends together the vast majority at Bungay, mostly under the stars with a fire-pit.

My You-Tube page has some lovely videos and Sue is in some, ‘Dylan Space Man’ is very touching as Sue and Dylan are the main focus created in June 2016, link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zblwi-5VZzw

We have had a multitude of invigorating and fun activities over the summer months.

Really enjoyed catching up with Roger and Rachel (Jerry brother) with Brett and Fraser as they with their girlfriends relish playing with Dylan as we savored the sun and BBQ in their garden.

Were introduced to the newest member of the Brown family, the most endearing bundle of golden fur on four legs being young Golden Retriever ‘Harvey’. A great afternoon catching up when Harvey learnt to swim in the hot tub!!!

A couple of seaside adventures. Dylan and I went straight from school one evening to Winterton-on-Sea and had a truly blissful time with picnic, massive sandcastle building with seal watching throughout the evening. The high light being a group of four seals swam past us close to the shore, a marvelous adventure! 

Milo took Dylan and me to Essex seaside and we stayed with my longest standing friend Val, for a few days. We relished the sand and sea on some of the hottest days, again blissful. Dylan learnt to skim on the shore line, Milo managed to be kept completely clothed from head to toe, but give him his due he had left his thermal vest at home! We were lucky to be taken out off the beaten track by boat to appreciate the less frequented beaches, beautiful where we played and picnicked.

The first time in years Dylan and I attended Norwich’s Lord Mayors Procession having first been ‘robbed’ at the funfair! The life size puppet elephants were by far sublime and strangely authentic as they led the procession of a circus theme, a considerable occasion to have participated in as a ‘watcher’.

Jerry has been indulged in a new Range Rover, red this time! Helped in his recovery, so he tells me!

Baby Maxwell turned one year old, such a beautiful baby, still very young as he gathers pace from his premature start. We celebrated with a pleasant family party of singing, cake and a very smiley Maxwell.

Listening to Glenn Miller Orchestra in Cromer was really impressive, the finale being ‘In the Mood’, hope you enjoy my video of the tune.

The big occasion in August for me was to welcome our very dear cousin Vicki from Australia. It is such a delight to catch up in person and enjoy a bit of time as a family too. We squeezed Vicki into our home as Milo gave up his room for the week, becoming a refugee in Dylan’s room under his cabin bed. With the inflatable bed on the floor and lighting, his electronics balanced on chair etc, Milo said he felt he was a refugee from Harry Potter! We enjoyed some great moments together namely taking a run to Dover in Kent, with mum, to visit our birth Grandmother’s grave and guided around the houses and streets of both our mum’s youth. A really wonderful time reminiscing and understanding some of the history of our mum’s background. Another moment being when we laughed and laughed so much at our inability hence lack of expertise to manage a decent selfie, added dimension being a bit tipsy! Vicki I am so pleased your journey got as far as Norfolk, it was our pleasure.

Lastly I finish by sharing how the soldier in our home has protected us from all sorts of enemies and evil forces through the summer, such as zombies, bombs, snipers! This can start early in the morning when he is protecting me coming down the stairs to in the afternoon running up and down the street in full camouflage gear shooting anything that passes. The recent additions to his outfit is the camouflage wellie boots and rucksack. Dylan feels the wellies were a ‘must’ to enhance the authenticity of his image. The pleasures of having an 8 year old little boy in the house!!! 

Ahh the real deal!!!

Hope you have enjoyed my dialogue, would be good to hear from you either by posting a comment or return of email. Speak soon:)

London Marathon 2018 - FINISHER!

What an absolutely exhilarating experience whilst the most gruelling event I have ever been part of!

As you all know (certainly those in the UK) the day turned out to be the hottest London Marathon on record. The ironic element to this record is the training period had been through some really horrid winter months being plenty of rain, ice and snow, so the marathon was the first time I had run in minimal clothing of shorts and vest top this year. The following day was much cooler!! The massive bonus to the beautiful sunny hot day was the crowds and their enthusiasm to cheer runners on, pure jubilation.

Milo and I travelled to London on Saturday afternoon. He drove, thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to travel a significant distance and felt momentous for him to be driving on the M25 and four lanes of traffic, he drove confidently. We stayed overnight with my Bexley friends, really great catching up again.

An early start on Sunday on the train which was the beginning of the magic.  At Bexley station there was half a dozen runners, by the time we got off the train at Lewisham there was a good 30 runners to DLR when 90% of the travellers were runners. At Greenwich 9am the roads were filling with runners along a variety of roads to converge onto the roads/paths to the park crowds and crowds all being Marathon runners/spectators. A sea of people full of anticipated excitement, the emotion was starting to become palpable. Milo and I parted at the start gate.

Through the start gate was an open area of runners ‘waiting’ loitering under trees or wandering around. Big screens of the elites racing which was strange to think we were all part of that race but lingering in anticipation. The time came to move towards the start line up in the correct wave with more waiting but lots of concerned chatter on how to manage your run and then we surged forward. I was near the back of the red start, in wave 7 out of 8, so passed over the start line 40 mins after the elite men had started their race. It was exciting to move reasonably freely over the start, no Queen waving at us though but a band, so a bit disappointing.

My race was amazing. I had my name on my vest and my ‘Penis Hat’ on. My name was constantly being shouted it was initially a bit embarrassing as those runners around me were saying they were adopting my name too, all done in good humour. The crowds shouted and shouted all the way around the course it was by far the most overwhelming and distinct feature I will never forget. I had from the moment I started to the moment I ended people applauding my hat. I sensed I had made an impression as men in particular acknowledged I was making a statement – younger men cheered, older men were more earnest in their cheer, but all acknowledged. My hat was worn all the way around the route. At the end I very happily donated my hat to ORCHIDS, hopefully they will use in an appropriate promotional manner!

The heat was hard work and I could feel an impact in the early part of the race, although I had hydrated well the days leading up to the race, so slowed down and concentrated on taking water, always having a bottle in my hand and taking a bottle at each water station. I was a bit panicked when the water stations had run out but then there were people in the crowd who brought water and refilled bottles for the runners. I made use of the showers of fine mist water spray which was blissful, two fire brigades had their hoses running and children water gunned runners too. So lots of opportunity to keep cool.

The generosity of the crowds was truly astonishing in their enthusiasm and heartening encouragement was inspiring to keep going. The amount of food, sweets and offers of sun cream plus water as described was stunning, I struggled not to become overwhelmed with emotion. There was a strong sense of ‘community’ which was seized by the spectators, a privilege to be part of.

Around Canary Wharf there were no spectators due to building work. It was very hot within the concrete confines and the silence was palpable. There was a lot of runners who were all walking, the concentration was evident as people were ‘digging deep inside themselves’ to keep focused. All around the course there was a lot of people who were needing medical support including collapsing and being disorientated – disquieting to observe.

Running around Cutty Sark and over London Bridge was exhilarating. Seeing my nephew and his beautiful girlfriend was a great comfort. I was dispirited not to have seen Milo and poor Milo was bitterly disappointed not to see me. He was hampered by the poor performance of the app to track me, it kept freezing which gave a false reading of my progress. We did get the opportunity to speak when I was running I then appreciated he was struggling, it was a relief to hear him and told him to relax.

 

I enjoyed running on the blue racing line marvelling in Mo Farar had not long before me run here too! I did lose track of where I was within the race mileage so when I was coming up to Buckingham Palace it felt like the finish was sudden. ‘Shuffling’ down Pall Mall was soul-stirring, the relief of finishing was immense, as I walked away with my well-earned medal around my neck full of emotion at what I had mastered with a lifetime of desire achieved.

Eventually Milo and I found each other and what a blissful moment that was as he took control of his withered mother as I hobbled to the charity meeting point. Enjoyed a massage, friends company and tea. My wounds becoming evident of blisters, damaged toenails and generally knackered legs! Later that evening Milo drove me the 130 miles home to a glorious embrace from a proud hubby. Wonderful!

An event I am truly pleased I entered one I can now tick off my list, enjoy my medal and never do again! I have raised a total of over £4000 for ‘ORCHIDS Fighting Male Cancer’ which is double my target. ORCHIDS London Marathon Team of 20 runners are looking to reach a total of at least £50,000 together. I cannot thank you enough for your sponsorship to help me reach my fundraising goal and much more.

I am hoping you will enjoy my video of my London Marathon experience